By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
Apparently aware of the deluge of criticisms that have trailed the redesigning of Nigeria’s currency, Naira, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele has said that the bankers’ bank is not targeting anyone by changing the country’s legal tender.
Emefiele also gave an indication that the CBN is favourably disposed to making adjustments along the way especially in the uproar that has greeted the cashless policy of the CBN and the recent N20,000 ceiling on the daily cash withdrawal.
The CBN Governor who spoke to State House Correspondents on Thursday after a closed doors meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in his country home in Daura, Katsina state, said it is not the intention of the CBN to inflict hardship on Nigerians.
The dialogue between the CBN Governor and reporters went thus:
Question: May we know what informs your visit to Mr President?
Answer: “Thank you very much. I am visiting Daura to greet Mr President and also see him as part of our normal briefing that I normally carry out. The briefing has been overdue and I thought that he should be briefed about what is happening in central bank and what is happening in the economy, and generally, recent happenings in the central bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian economy”.
Q: What is the recent happening?
A: “You know there are so many things happening concerning issues bothering on the currency and the fact that only yesterday, the new currency has now reached the banks and we believe that the banks will begin to distribute these currencies to the members of the public who are their customers; and to assure the President that things are going on well about the currency as well as issues bothering on the cashless policy that we recently introduced”.
Q: The Senate kicked against the withdrawal limit, what are doing about the policy?
A: “Well, the senate of the Federal Republic is National Assembly, they are legislative arm of the government and from time to time we brief them about what is happening and about our policies and I’m aware that they have asked for some briefings and we will brief them. But I think it’s important for me to say that the cashless policy started in 2012.
“But almost three to four occasions we had to step down the policy because we felt that there is a need for us to prepare ourselves and deepened our payment system infrastructure in Nigeria. Between 2012 and now 2022, almost about 10 years, we believe that a lot of electronic channels have been put in place that will aid people in conducting banking and financial service transactions in Nigeria.
“We heard about people talk about some of the people in the rural areas and the truth is that even online banking, as I was coming out to Daura, I saw a kiosk that has super agent today. It’s because of the way we felt that there was a need for us to deepen the payment system infrastructure.
“We have 1.4 million super agents that are all over different parts of the country, all local governments, and all villages in this country. And I have told my colleagues, some of their names are already on the CBN website and we will publish all the names of all the super agents.
“And having super agent which is different from the banks which is different from microfinance banks, which is different from other financial institutions. Having 1.4 million of them is as good as having 1.4 million banking points where people can conduct services.
“And we think, Nigeria as a big country, the biggest economy in Africa that we need to leapfrog into the cashless economy. We cannot continue to allow a situation where over 85 per cent of the cash that is in circulation is outside the bank. More and more countries that are embracing digitization have gone into cashless.
“And I said it at different fora, that this is not targeted at anybody, it’s just meant for the good and development of the Nigerian economy and we can only continue to appeal to Nigerians to please see this policy the way we have presented it. We will be reviewing from time to time how this is working because I cannot say that we are going to be rigid. But it is not to say that we will reverse, it is not to say that we will change the timing, but whether it is about tricking some amount to be a little bit higher or a little bit lower, and all the rest of them.
“We will do so because we are humans, we want to make sure that we are make life good for our people. We do not want to make life difficult for them. So there is no need for anybody to worry, the central bank is monitoring what is happening and I can assure everyone that we are up and alive to our responsibilities and we will do what is right for Nigeria and Nigerians.
Q: So how are you prepared for December 15?
A: “We are more than prepared because I said December 15 when we announced it, we said December 15 is when we will issue the cash but we have to move it forward because it leaped, the President launched it in November 26 instead of December 15 that the President unveiled it.
“And I just told you now that yesterday (Wednesday), the banks have received the new cash and they have started dispensing them. I can only just assure you that it will go round, let us just be calm, luckily the old currency continued to be legal tender till January 31, 2023.
“So, I want to crack a joke, both the painted (new notes) and unpainted (old notes) will operate concurrently as a legal tender. But by January 31, the unpainted one will not be useful to you again, so please take it to your bank as quickly as possible.
Q: How much of the old notes have you been able to get back to the banking system?
A: “The central bank, we have taken more than half a trillion and in the bank we also have close to half a trillion. But what we have done in the Central Bank is to move more people from different departments into Currency Processing so that they can process this cash as quickly as possible and from there, banks can now move what they have with them.
Q: How was the president’s response to you?
“He was very very happy and said we should carry on our work, no need to fear, no need to bother about anybody”.
