In a bid to address the acute shortage
of lower denomination currencies, the Central Bank of Nigeria, on Tuesday commenced an exercise aimed
at flooding the market with N100, N50, N20, N10 and N5 notes.
CBN warned against hoarding and cloning of the lower
currency notes, stating that anyone caught would face the full wrath of
the law.
The Director, Currency Operations, CBN Priscilla Eleje, while speaking in Abuja,
said the apex bank was unhappy that lower denomination naira notes were
in short supply. She stated that the bank was mindful of the
development and had decided to address the challenge, starting with
traders. She also warned those who were hoarding the lower denomination
naira notes for the purpose of profiting from their resale to stop the
idea as they risked prosecution when caught.
Eleje said, “We spend money to print money every year. But we
don’t see the money in the market. So, we called the market unions and
banks to a meeting in our office on how to resolve that. We are here to
inform you that we have started giving money to you traders via your
association and the banks. We will monitor the disbursements and
spending. No more sales of lower denomination currencies at Dei Dei (a
suburb in Abuja popular for the sale of new naira notes). The Police are
on the lookout and will arrest and prosecute offenders. We will give
the money to the association via the commercial banks.”
She added, “all you need to do is to take your higher
denomination currencies to your association and exchange with lower
denomination currency equivalents. “It’s not like the money is free.
It’s just an exchange and we want it to be available to you people to do
your business with ease. So, please let us know if you can’t access it.
We want to ensure you trade seamlessly.”