SCARCITY OF CURRENCY PRINTING PAPER BLAMED FOR NAIRA SCARCITY – SOURCES AT COUNCIL OF STATE MEETING
Read Time:3 Minute, 20 Second
By ‘Leke Yusuf
Sources at the National Council of State meeting in Abuja today disclosed that the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele told members of the Council that the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc (The Mint), has capacity constraints resulting in the failure to print adequate new notes to replace the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes.
Emefiele made the disclosure on Friday when he briefed the emergency meeting of the National Council of State, sources who attended the meeting told an online news platform. President Muhammadu Buhari convened the meeting as threats of social instability rise following the shortage of Naira.
Sources also disclosed that The Mint’s capacity constraints rest on not having enough papers to print new Naira notes.
“The Mint has run out of papers to print N500 and 1,000 notes,” a source said, explaining the supply constraints The Minit faces. “They have placed orders with a German firm and De La Rue of the UK (for papers) but they have been placed on a long waiting list so their orders cannot be met now,”
The source said The Mint had received CBN’s request to print 70 million copies of the new notes, totalling N126 billion to be pumped into circulation by today, the source added, regretting, however, that the request could not be met because “The Mint doesn’t have the capacity.”
Several reports have emerged on the suffering Nigerians are facing as a result of the cash shortage being experienced in the country as Banks have no cash to pay to their customers.
Despite the ruling of the Supreme Court on Thursday, barring the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Government from enforcing the February 10 deadline for the use of the old Naira notes, many Nigerians are facing further hardship due to the scarcity of Cash being experienced across the country.
In several parts of Ikeja, the Lagos State capital, visited on Wednesday and Thursday morning, Point of Sale (POS) operators charged between N250 – N350 per N1,000 Cash paid out.
Many of the POS operators interviewed said it was becoming difficult to access from their regular sources as they have to pay higher charges. This in turn has caused them to pass the high charges to their customers who patronise their services.
The POS operators have also limited the amount of cash paid out per transaction to N2,000 as they say there are many customers to serve.
However, some filling stations observed to be selling fuel insisted that motorists and other customers can only make purchases using cash. They cited difficulties in effecting online transactions with the banks as their reason.
There are allegations in certain quarters that there is a collusion between filling station attendants and POS operators whereby the attendants hand over their cash collections to the POS operators for a high commission.
Also, at the branches of the a few commercial banks visited in Ikeja, the tellers at First City Monument Bank on Allen Avenue said there was no cash at all to pay over the counter as they were yet to receive cash from their Cash Management Unit (CMU) at the head-office.
The Alausa Branch of FCMB also did not have cash to pay over the counter and also at the Automated Teller Machines (ATM).
At First Bank, Alausa, Ikeja; the doors were shut to customers as the branch didn’t open for business.
On Wednesday, the Lagos State Government announced the reduction of fares on all of its transport services by 50%.
In a live speech, the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu said passengers using BRT buses, LAGRIDE taxi-scheme, First Mile and Last Mile buses, and Lagos Ferry Services (LAGFERRY) will enjoy the palliative for the next one week, using their Cowry Cards.
The Governor also gave express permission to all fuel stations operating within Lagos to commence 24-hour operations to allow residents buy fuel without having to stay in queues for hours.
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0