The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has flooded deposit money banks with naira notes to assuage the ongoing cash crunch in the economy. The apex bank also directed all commercial banks to open for operation on Saturdays and Sundays.
The directive Sunrise News gathered might not unconnected with efforts to starve off threats by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), which had directed its members to picket all Central Bank of Nigeria offices nationwide by Monday, if the scarcity of the Naira persists.
In a statement signed by the Acting Director, Corporate Communications of the CBN, Isa AbdulMumin, the CBN said that a substantial amount of money, in various denominations, had been received by the commercial banks for onward circulation to their respective customers.
After the Supreme Court order that upturned the CBN plan to remove old currency from circulation, the naira crunch worsened as depositors grapple to collect money from banks.
This resulted in the rationing of limited cash available in the economy while most funds outside the banking system failed to return because customers develop cold feet and started person-to-person deals.
Isa however said the CBN had directed all banks to load their Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) as well as conduct physical operations in the banking halls through the weekends.
“Branches of commercial banks will operate on Saturdays and Sundays to attend to customers’ cash needs,” he noted.
The apex bank spokesperson added that Godwin Emefiele, Governor at the CBN, would personally lead teams to monitor the level of compliance by the banks in various locations across the country.
He, therefore, urged Nigerians to be patient as the current situation would ease soon with the injection of more banknotes into circulation.
Most analysts believe that the failed naira design policy which spooked the Nigerian economy will have multiple impacts on key indices – including inflation, gross domestic product (CBN) growth and of course FX rates.
Meanwhile Sunrise News can confirm that many of the Deposit Money Banks (DMB) have indicated readiness to comply with the regulator’s directive to open on weekend to attend to customers’ needs.
Many of the banks sent Short Message Service (SMS) messages to their customers encouraging them to visit the banks on Saturday and Sunday for their transactions.
One of such messages sent out by the First Bank read: “In line with our promise to put you first, we wish to inform you that our branches nationwide will be open on Saturday, 25 March and Sunday , 26 March 2023, between 10am -1pm, to attend to your cash withdrawal needs. #YouFirst”.