Intrigue as CBN Makes Strategic Move to Address Naira Scarcity, Outsmart Governors
- The CBN is prepared to distribute about N1trn to commercial banks in Nigeria to relieve the suffering of the people in the ongoing naira scarcity
- A board member of the apex bank, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, disclosed the new move by the bank
- The source described the distribution of such an amount of money as a strategic move to outsmart the governors challenging the naira redesign policy in court
FCT, Abuja - There are indications that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) might pump more new naira notes into circulation through commercial banks today, Monday, February 13.
According to The Nation, about N500 billion new notes have been put into circulation since December 2022.
Source: Twitter
When will new notes be available?
A member of the CBN board who spoke anonymously disclosed that the apex bank would distribute about N1 trillion into circulation through commercial banks on Monday.
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The statement from the CBN board member reads in part:
“The CBN will do the needful to ensure that innocent Nigerians’ pains are eliminated. To this end, more new naira notes will be allocated to the banks from Monday for disbursing to the public.”
The new move of the apex bank will outsmart the claim by some governors that the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele has some hidden agenda with the policy as it collided with the election period.
Latest about CBN, Godwin Emefiele, Naira Scarcity, 2023 election, naira redesign
No less than seven states are already in court to challenge the naira redesign policy of the federal government, which many have said brought more hardship to the people.
Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states challenged the policy at the Supreme Court which later granted an interim injunction against the federal government on the further implementation of withdrawing the old notes from circulation.
The court is expected to sit on Wednesday, February 15, and reach a final verdict.
Why naira scarcity will promote vote buying on election day
Legit.ng earlier reported that the absence of the naira may push many Nigerians to sell their votes on election day to have cash at hand for their businesses and other basic needs.
Statistics from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) show that more than 60% of Nigerians are unbanked, suggesting that the larger percentage of the population the apex bank is asking to buy into its cashless policy do not have bank accounts.
M.I Mustapha, the counsel of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara state, referenced the CBN statistics when he sought the Supreme Court injunction to stop the federal government from further implementation of its February 10 deadline for banning the use of the old naira notes.
Source: Legit.ng
