By Abibat Aliu
Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has queried the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over the scarcity of new naira notes a few weeks before the deadline for the validity of the old banknotes.
Since the launch of the new notes started circulation on December 15, 2022, banks across the country have continued to pay in old notes.
Automated Teller Machines and Point of Sales (PoS) also continue dispensing the old banknotes with the new notes, not in sight.
Currency hawkers and high net-worth individuals have mopped up the very few new naira notes, just as some of the hawkers advertise the sale of the redesigned naira on various social media platforms.
Following the recent trend, HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement yesterday, urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to go after currency hawkers and other hoarders to recover the stocked currencies.
The group also accused money deposit banks of collusion with currency hawkers selling the new notes at black markets to partygoers.
HURIWA backed the World Bank’s argument that the timing and short transition period of the naira redesign may have “negative impacts on economic activity, in particular for the poorest households”.
Onwubiko said: “About three weeks after the release of the redesigned N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes by the CBN, millions of Nigerians, even those in cities like Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano, and other places are yet to see or touch the new naira notes. The situation is particularly worse in remote places and villages.
“Whereas black marketers, politicians, and expatriates continue to get access to crispy naira notes, millions of ordinary Nigerian bank depositors are denied access to the new notes despite the approach of the deadline of January 31, 2023.”
Meanwhile, Nigerians have expressed worry and disappointment over the scarcity of new naira notes, saying the public ought to be familiar with the new currency to guide against fake notes.
Checks by this medium and visits to banks across Lagos State revealed that ATMs are dispensing old naira notes which are in bad condition. Also, cashiers give customers old notes across the counters.
Customers who demand the new notes are told that the new notes are currently not available.
Akeem Ogunwale, a customer, said the new notes are available in the banks but are only given to an affluent person in the society, while the common man is forced to take the old notes.
A cashier at an old-generation bank branch in Isolo said the new notes are not available in the bank the limited volume supplied had been exhausted.
“We have given out the ones we have before the Christmas and New Year festivals. Right now, we don’t have any new notes available,” he said.
