Jigawa State Government has expressed dismay over the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN and other Commercial banks for causing unnecessary hardship to people in the state and the country on shortage of newly redesigned naira notes.
Governor Badaru Abubakar disclosed this at a press briefing in Dutse, the jigawa state capital.
Alhaji Badaru Abubakar represented by the State Commissioner of Finance and Economic Development, Alhaji Babangida Umar Gantsa, accused the Apex bank of allegedly hoarding the new naira notes.
According to him “the JIgawa State Governor Alhaji Badaru Abubakar is seriously worried on the difficulties created by the CBN on the redesign currency policy and inadequate supply of cash to commercial banks for dispensing to public”.
He explained that the people in the state were suffering as a result of paralyzing the Economic and other social activities due to the non-availability of new notes on circulation for sales and buying.
“You can see by your self, people spending nights at ATM queuing just to withdraw cash from the commercial banks”.
“Worries by His Excellency the governor on the situation, he asked me to go round the commercial banks in the capital city where the bank managers confirmed to me that the CBN refusing them enough cash to load at the ATM for people to withdraw”.
“There is one ATM point where I counted 215 people waiting to withdraw cash. In other banks, there were more than 250 in one ATM point. They said many of them spent the night there” the Commissioner stressed
He, therefore, pointed out that, the problems had already crippled the Point Of Sales POS businesses in the state as a result of the lack of new naira notes.
“The said agents and super agents recruited for cash swapping are not functioning here, In all the places I checked, I never see anyone operating, this may be because CBN failed to provide new Naira Notes to the bank, POS operators, and Agents”.
According to him “During my visits to the commercial banks here in Dutse, I asked one of a major bank branch managers why the problems. He told me that the central bank is denying them enough cash to load in ATM.
The manager also told me the CBN gave only N2 million to his brach today and that It is seriously inadequate”.
Alhaji Babangida Umar Gantsa emphasized that the amount was grossly inadequate, saying people are dying of hunger, with no food and no money to buy for their families to eat.
COV//USMAN MZ
