Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the central bank, has urged commercial banks to go to apex bank locations all around the nation to obtain the new naira notes.
Emefiele decided on Wednesday in Lagos when the apex bank visited Computer Village, Ikeja, as part of its awareness-raising tour about the acceptance of the newly redesigned naira notes.
He stated that the new naira notes were in the vaults of the apex bank and were ready for the commercial banks to pick them up.
“We have been requesting that the banks approach the Central Bank of Nigeria all over the nation to come and pick up the new notes; to accommodate the banks, we have even waived some of the conditionality for obtaining currency notes.
Before, the banks were assigned slots, but now, Emefiele stated, “the Central Bank of Nigeria is bending over backward to satisfy the requests of the banks to service them so that they can serve you, and so that everyone can have access to the new naira notes.”
Emefiele, who was represented by Mr. Kofo Salam-Alada, Director, Legal Services Department, CBN, claimed that the central bank was making considerable efforts to make sure that the new notes were widely accepted.
According to him, the apex bank was currently visiting commercial banks to keep an eye on them and their Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) to make sure that no longer were clients being paid in the new naira notes over the counter but rather through the ATMs.
Emefiele stated: “One of the things we are doing is that we have monitors going around the banks currently. I have been to certain ATMs this morning and I have made a complaint and I have spoken to the management of the various banks.”
Additionally, he warned that any bank that neglected to come to pick up the fresh notes and fail to deposit cash into its ATMs would face sanctions.
He reassured the marketers that the issues they were encountering will be resolved quickly.
If they have any trouble obtaining the new notes, Emefiele advised them to phone these numbers: 08176657641, 08176657642, 08176656721, and 07080650791 and send emails to newnaira@cbn.gov.ng.
Emefiele reaffirmed the importance of the old naira note submission deadline on January 31.
The apex bank was already taking steps to grow the number of merchants to a decent position where the naira would become acceptable, he added, and he advised people to adopt the naira and other electronic channels as well to conduct their banking business.
Timmy David, the president of the Coalition of Associations in Computer Village, pleaded with the CBN to uphold their commitment by making sure that the replacement notes were available before the deadline.
“All ATMs should be loaded with the new naira notes; there should be no banks that are not handed the new notes from the ATMs.
“We should be able to take back the new notes as we give out the old ones; this will allow individuals to do daily business”, Emefiele said.