Naira scarcity is biting harder across the country as banks have limited cash withdrawals, the Daily Trust reveals.
Residents of Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, and Adamawa, as well as in other parts of the country, are expressing concerns over their inability to withdraw huge amounts of cash from their banks, raising fears of scarcity as experienced during the naira swap.
This has also affected business transactions in local markets, especially in the northern part of Nigeria, where buyers and sellers prefer to deal in cash instead of bank transfers.
The Daily Trust reported on November 1 that cash scarcity had resurfaced in Borno and Kano states as the December 31 deadline for the use of the old N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes drew nearer.
The report forced the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to explain that “the seeming cash scarcity in some locations is due largely to high volume withdrawals from the CBN branches by Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and panic withdrawals by customers from the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).”
The CBN, through its Director, Corporate Communications, Isa Abdulmumin, added, “While we note the concerns of Nigerians on the availability of cash for financial transactions, we wish to assure the public that there is sufficient stock of currency notes for economic activities in the country. The branches of the CBN across the country are also working to ensure the seamless circulation of cash in their respective states of operation.”
The CBN had announced in March that, in compliance with the order of the Supreme Court, banknotes remained legal tender alongside the redesigned banknotes until December 31.
Last week, the apex bank reassured Nigerians that both old and new notes remained legal tender and urged them to continue transacting using them.
“For the avoidance of doubt, while reiterating that there are sufficient banknotes across the country for all normal economic activity, we wish to state unambiguously that every banknote issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) remains legal tender and should not be rejected by anyone, as stipulated in Section 20(5) of the CBN Act, 2007,” Abdulmumin said in the statement.
He added that branches of the CBN across the country had been directed to continue to issue different denominations of old and redesigned banknotes in adequate quantities to deposit money in banks for onward circulation to bank customers.
