The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has confirmed the evacuation of banknotes from its vaults to commercial banks to ease the circulation of cash of various denominations.
The CBN has also directed commercial banks to open for operation on Saturdays and Sundays.
The Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department of the CBN, Dr. Isa AbdulMumin, disclosed this in Abuja, on Friday, stating that a substantial amount of money, had been received by the commercial banks for circulation.
According to him, the CBN had directed banks to load the 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, adding that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, 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.
Long queues at ATMs
There have been signs of improved supply of cash in some bankin the FCT although there were still crowds at Garki branches of GTB, UNION and UBA.
Individuals and business have been pressured by the scarcity of bank notes in the aftermath of naira redesign policy which originally made the old 200, 500 and 1000 notes no longer legal tender from the 31st of January.
The latest Supreme Court ruling on the matter however extended the deadlines for the affected currencies to the 31st of December 202
Writing by Biodun Dare, editing by Daniel Adejo