CBN allocates N30m daily to Bauchi banks

The Central Bank of Nigeria, Bauchi State, says it is allocating N30 million new naira banknotes daily to each branch of banks in the state to increase customer access to the new banknotes.

A top bank official, Mr. Abdulkadir Jibrin, said this as he monitored banks in Bauchi on Monday to ensure access to new naira notes for residents of the state.

He said the purpose of the exercise was to ensure the availability of the new naira notes in the banks and also to easily exchange old notes for the newly designed ones for the residents.

“Only N10,000 and less can be exchanged per person and if the amount is more one has to open a bank wallet.

“Every day every branch in the state receives N30 million to ensure their ATMs are stocked with cash for individuals to withdraw,” he said.

However, he urged the public to use the deadline extension to February 10 to deposit their old currency with banks to avoid financial loss.

“It is just a window for the citizens who have yet to put their money in their accounts to do so and for those who have N10,000 or less.

“Our committee would continue to contact the places asking them to pull out their old notes and exchange them with the new ones,” he said.

He explained that the monitoring exercise involved checking the ATMs to ensure the new naira notes were loaded for customers to withdraw.

According to him, the ATMs will allow people to access money, adding that top bank officials are monitoring the cashout volume through the ATMs.

He urged the public to report to the CBN if a bank refused to open for operations or failed to disburse the new notes through their ATMs.

A resident of Bauchi, Mr. Aliyu Zarami, praised the federal government for extending the deadline to February 10.

He urged the top bank to penalize banks or agents that violate a rule or guideline for issuing new banknotes.

Another resident, Hajiya Nafisa Mohammed, praised the extension, saying it would ease tensions and give people a chance to deposit their old notes and have new ones for transactions.

“The banks should do something about the long line of depositors of the old naira notes,” she said.

A cleric, Ustaz Saminu Ahmed, also praised the federal government for extending the deadline.

“But the rural communities need more than a month, the date should be extended to two months, so that the grassroots people can deposit their old banknotes,” he said.

NAN