The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) has called for calm and understanding from Nigerians amid the cash scarcity resulting from the naira redesign and cashless policy.
They added that stakeholders in the ecosystem are being engaged in addressing the unintended consequences of the naira policies.
This was disclosed in a statement that was issued earlier today by Akin Morakinyo, the Registrar/Chief Executive of the CIBN.
Call for calm: The CIBN Chief also empathised with Nigerians and called for calm, urging bankers to carry on their duties with professionalism and diligence. He added:
- “We sincerely empathise with the banking public on the difficulties encountered in accessing the new naira notes which heightened tension and in some cases, provoked acts of violence at different customer touchpoints.”
Unintended consequences: Morakinyo also revealed that the banking ecosystem is currently being engaged towards fixing the negative effects of the policy, he said:
- “Relevant stakeholders within the ecosystem are being engaged with a view to addressing the unintended consequences of the laudable naira Redesign Policy. To this end, we beseech the general public to eschew any act capable of exacerbating the current situation.
- “We also beseech them to exercise restraint while we enjoin all our members to carry on their duties with utmost professionalism and diligence.
- “The CIBN, the umbrella professional body for banks and bankers is confident that this phase will pass with the cooperation of all and sundry, and our country Nigeria will come out of this stronger.”
In case you missed it: The Central Bank of Nigeria said it approved the Over-the-counter withdrawal of new naira notes by deposit money banks (DMBs) to fight the increased Naira scarcity that has seen POS operators charge Nigerians as high as 10% per transaction.
The scarcity led to an increased slowdown in person-to-person and person-to-business transactions across Nigeria due to the shortage of cash, according to a cross-section of P.O.S operators and traders.
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