Politicians Buying New Naira Notes For Political Reasons, Says Emefiele

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Emefiele has claimed that some politicians have started buying the new naira notes ahead of the 2023 general elections scheduled to hold from next week.

Emefiele said this on Tuesday in Abuja during a meeting with representatives of Diplomatic and Consular Missions.

He also said that the Central Bank has noticed that some members of the public have started hoarding the new notes, adding that the development is restricting the flow of the currency through the economy.

Emefiele said, “The CBN has noticed that some politicians are buying the new notes and storing them for political purposes.

“We have also noticed that some Nigerians are capitalising on the transition to charge exorbitant fees or demand cash payment on the false pretext that PoSs don’t work, especially at petrol stations.

“These selfish actions for personal monetary gain are creating hardship for Nigerians and may come at the expense of fellow citizens lives and livelihood.

“We have noticed that some members of the public are hoarding the new notes thereby restricting their flow through the economy.

“Cash kept at home will not circulate but may fuel a perception of scarcity which leads to higher demand for the currency, signalling to those who don’t have an urgent or immediate need to store cash.”

The Governor stated further that there is tremendous tension and elevated agitation by leaders who should be calming frayed nerves by the citizens.

“We believe that a large proportion of these agitations are staged and sponsored propagandas or an exaggeration of the reality. No doubt that there are pockets of pressures in some areas, the CBN is working hard to shift resources to those areas in order to ease the tension.

“The situation is substantially calming down since the commencement of the Over-the-Counter payments to compliment ATM disbursements and the use of super agents,” he added.

He reiterated the availability of an appropriate amount of the redesigned N200, N500, and N1,000 denominations and current N100, N50, N20, N10 and N5 denominations to support economic activities.