The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has stated that the apex bank allocates new naira notes to banks on a daily basis; however, the scarcity of the redesigned naira is due to the fact that some Nigerians are hoarding the currency.
This statement was made by the CBN Director, Consumer Protection, Mrs. Rashidat Mongunu, on Thursday in Offa, Kwara State, while on a monitoring exercise of microfinance banks.
According to her, “There is naira out there; I have been in Kwara for over three weeks now, and we have been allocating money daily.
“But now, everybody collecting the naira is hoarding it. So, no matter how much naira we put out there, if we continue with this attitude and the CBN issue from now until December, it will still not be enough.
“Because of this attitude, even those who don’t really need the money are rushing to get it and keep it, not to spend it.”
She added, “Currency management is a cycle, but we have not allowed the cycle to mature.
“When you issue currency as the CBN, what we expect is that the naira issued out will come back into the banking system again.
“And you know that in every economy, you must have proper accountability on the debt.
“You just don’t issue out naira for the fun of it; you issue the amount that is commensurate with the level of activity you have in that country,” Mrs. Mongunu said.
The CBN Director added that the situation could only get better when people started spending money they had already hoarded because there was already enough money in circulation.
She added that the CBN was already engaging traditional rulers to encourage their people to have a positive attitude and be confident that the naira redesign policy was not to punish anyone but to better the economy.
In his remark, the Olofa of Offa, Oba Gbadamosi Esuwoye II, said the extension of the legality of the old notes from January 31 to February 10 was responsible for the problems people are facing currently.
He said people had already deposited all that they had on January 30 in anticipation of starting to spend the new notes in February, hoping that they would be available, but it’s not so.
The traditional ruler, however, advised that if the CBN wanted the policy to be received with open arms and be successful, it should make the new notes available for people to spend.
