Naira scarcity: Banks assure availability of cash to general public

Amid the prevailing scarcity of the Naira across the country, three financial associations have assured that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and operating commercial banks would make available the banknotes to the general public.

The associations which include; the Committee of Heads of Operations of Banks (CHOBs), Association of Corporate Affairs Managers of Banks (ACAMB), and Chief Security Officers in Banks (CSOs), in a statement, Monday, signed by President, ACAMB, Mr Rasheed Bolarinwa, confirmed that the assurance followed deliberations arrived at at the end of their tripartite meeting, Sunday.

The meeting was held in Lagos and convened by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), which subsequently issued a communiqué on the position.

“The banks resolved to continuously engage customers on efforts being made to lessen the current hardship being experienced, pending when all the challenges will be resolved.

“The bank heads appealed to Nigerians, particularly the traders and merchants to embrace and adopt the cashless policy by accepting fund transfers from their customers.

“They noted that the random glitches associated with recent transfer options will also ease out in no distant time,” Bolarinwa said.

The statement further appealed to security agencies to increase patrol and surveillance on bank locations, especially those located in places prone to attacks, to forestall further attacks.

Bolarinwa added that the communiqué also urged traditional institutions, heads community development association and leaders in various markets across Nigeria.

”They should educate their subjects and members on the immediate and long-term benefits of cashless policy,” he said.

Bolarinwa, however, urged bank customers to leverage several available alternative channels provided by banks to consummate 99 per cent of all their transactions and focus less on cash.

The ACAMB president re-emphasised that commercial banks neither hide nor hoard money they received from the CBN.

He assured that banks would make money received available to their customers Over the Counter (OTC) or through the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).

The emergency tripartite meeting was a fallout of the implementation of the CBN monetary policy that led to attacks on bank staff and facilities in some states of the federation.

It was in response to an earlier threat by the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institution (ASSBIFI) to embark on a industrial action over incessant violent attacks on the bank properties and their lives by irate depositors protesting scarcity of the Naira notes.

Making the threat of a possible strike action known, Friday, the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institution (ASSBIFI), in a statement dated February 17, 2023 with reference number ANS/WR/JA/OP/5018 and titled; “Stay at home order,” directed its members to stay away in any state where banks are attacked by depositors owing to cash scarcity.

The statement signed by President of the association, Comrade Olusoji Oluwole, and dispatched to all units’ president and secretaries, explained that the action ‘will continue daily until normalcy is restored.’

“The National Secretariat has been inundated with reports of threats and attacks on fives and properties of members and bank branches, and subsequently has been on the field to monitor and confirm the reports.

“We issued warnings and appeals to government to provide security measure for the safety of lives and properties of our members within and around the bank premises but regrettably the attacks have continued without any form of security for the safety of our members, and the recent being the attack today, Friday 17th February 2023 on one bank branch at Epe, Lagos State.

“We cannot leave the lives and properties of our members exposed to obvious danger.

“Consequently, all members should today immediately stay away from work in any state where bank branches are attacked.

“This is to continue every day until normalcy is restored.

“Please note, you will be availed further directives as events develop,” the statement read.

However, days after the association released the statement, the Federal Government has yet to react, as uncertainties continue to grow over the scarcity of new Naira banknotes, and the rejection of the old notes across several business public and private platforms

It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had, last Thursday, announced the reintroduction of the old N200 notes into circulation effectively sealing the fate of the old N500 and N1000 denomination of currencies, on the back of the expiration of the February 10 deadline for the expiration of the tenure of the old money as legal tender in the country.

While state governors had approached the Supreme Court to force the Federal Government and CBN to stay or reverse action on the Naira policy, the apex court on its part, had fixed February 22 as date to rule on the mater, even as it ordered the government to halt its new currency policy.

Already, some state governors in the country have directed residents to ignore President Buhari and CBN’s order, and continue using the old Naira notes, even as others have threatened punitive actions on commercial banks operating in their states which failed to accept deposits of old notes from customers.

Last Friday, violent protests erupted in Oyo, Edo, Delta, Ogun states, as well as in Kano, Katsina and parts of Lagos, as angry protesters attacked commercial banks destroying their property over the Naira scarcity and rejection of deposits in old notes.

Meanwhile, reacting to the continued scarcity of the new Naira banknotes, Chairman of the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, claimed during an interview with Hausa Service of the BBC, last Tuesday, some commercial banks were allegedly ‘putting a spanner in the works’ of government by making the new naira bills unavailable to Nigerians.

“They (commercial banks) are denying the poor people money in the banks and ATM machines. That’s why we send our officials to the states to monitor the banks and the people who are involved in the shoddy deal and undermining the process,” Bawa said.