ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to put in place more stringent sanctions on banks, opportunists and POS operators that are not complying with the CBN Regulatory Guidelines.
Country Director, ActionAid Nigeria, Comrade Ene Obi, in a press release issued in Abuja called that immediate actions must also be taken to increase the circulation and availability of the new notes in the country, within the extension period stipulated by CBN.
She said the peculiarities of the rural and excluded communities must be specially recognised and considered in the retirement of the old notes and the accessibility of the new naira notes.
She said the intention of the Central Bank of Nigeria on the redesign and introduction of the new naira note is applaudable as it is indeed reducing cash within the system while also promoting a cash-less economy.
“Expectedly, billions of hoarded cash are now coming back into the banking system, and this has a possibility of controlling inflation. However, the scarcity of the new Naira notes and the sudden emergence and disbursement of coins over the counter are increasingly leading to the frustrations of Nigerians.
“ This is in addition to the sales of the new naira notes by Independent POS operators and Opportunists and an over 200% increase in charges for collection of old notes.
“Worthy of note is that mobile and online transactions are unreliable on some occasions at this crucial period, as there have been recurring customer complaints about online bank transactions, and unauthorised debits from customers’ accounts.
“While POS operators are frustrating the efforts of those in excluded and rural communities with their outrageous charges. These are not encouraging at a time CBN is promoting a cash-less economy.
The Country Director also stated that the scarcity of the naira notes was a contributing factor to the assault and reprisal attack by the military on students and workers of the University of Benin.
“We are also calling on the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) to take swift action in rehabilitating and refurbishing all the refineries across the country to spur them into production.
“Now is the time for FGN to stop operating an opaque subsidy regime but adopt a citizen-led subsidy administration for efficiency and transparency,” she said .
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