CBN Promises to Flood Banks With Old Naira Notes Over NLC Protest, Keeps Mute On New Ones

• The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has promised to flood banks with old naira notes
• The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele met with bank CEOs and promised to cancel all withdrawal limits
• The development comes amid plans by Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to picket CBN branches nationwide

The Central Bank of Nigeria has concluded plans to issue all N1,000, N500, and N200 banknotes in its vaults to commercial banks.

The decision will expectedly end months of cash crunch and pains experienced by Nigerians due to the bank's naira redesign and cashless policies.

CBN to release crisp old notes to commercial banks

The apex bank's decision came weeks after the Supreme Court ordered the bank to reissue the old banknotes and allow them to remain legal tender until December 31, 2023.

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BREAKING: NLC directs members to cripple activities at CBN offices nationwide, gives reason

Punch reports that top officials of CBN and commercial banks confirmed that Godwin Emefiele, the CBN Governor, had directed commercial banks to begin issuing the old naira notes.

The report said CBN would release old notes to commercial banks on Thursday, March 23, 2023.

Findings showed that the CBN boss met with CEOs of commercial banks on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, and told them that the apex bank would begin releasing all old notes in its custody to the banks the next day.

Also, at the meeting, CBN said it would cancel all the withdrawal limits it had set up for several months.

Per the report, CBN will reissue crisp old naira notes to commercial banks, after which the ones dispensed by the banks will be released.

Additionally, bank customers will not be required to generate codes before depositing their old notes.

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CBN identifies reason for difficult cash withdrawal, explains increase in interest rates

Labour union to protest at CBN branches

The development comes as organized Labour under the aegis of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said it would begin picketing CBN branches nationwide over naira scarcity and lingering fuel shortage in the country.

The NLC President, Joe Ajaero, disclosed this at a press conference on Wednesday and stated that people's suffering over the naira scarcity had been exacerbated.

Ajaero said:

"Last week at the end of our CWC (Central Working Committee) meeting, we gave a one-week ultimatum for the Federal Government to address immediately, among other issues, the cash crunch caused by the policy. As of this morning, when the CWC met again to review the situation, we discovered that little improvement had been made.

CBN identifies the reason for difficult cash withdrawal, explains the increase in interest Rates

Legit.ng reported that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has admitted that there are faults in the online transactions and payment channels that frustrated bank customers in the last two months.

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Banks Say CBN issued more old notes as new naira notes dry up, disobey Supreme Court order on withdrawal limit

The Governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, during the Monetary Policy Committee Meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, said the bank is aware of the issues surrounding cash withdrawals with regular downtime in bank transaction platforms and asked payment channels to overcome them urgently.

Emefiele apologized for the transaction failures experienced by bank customers across the country and said it was due to the enormous transaction volume in the industry.

Source: Legit.ng