CPPE Pleads with CBN, Buhari to Review Process of Returning Old Naira Notes

The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has pled with the Central Bank of Nigerian (CBN) and President Muhammadu Buhari to review the process through which Nigerians can return the old naira note they have at hand without losing their hard-earned money.

In a statement signed Sunday by its chief executive officer, Muda Yusuf, the Centre beseeched the government to give a human face to the process, while it lamented that the agony and trauma inflicted by the entire management of the policy is unspeakable.

Accordingly, CPPE urged the apex bank to allow the old 1,000 and 500 naira notes to be deposited at the commercial banks to ease the current pains and ordeal of returning the old notes.

It further added: “The process should also be simplified to accommodate millions of rural dwellers, the informal sector players, the over 30 million unbanked Nigerians and several millions that are not literate.

“The current guidelines which require filling of forms on the CBN portals, generating codes etc. does not reckon with millions of Nigerians that seek to return their old notes who are not literate, who don’t have access to internets and who are in very remote locations in various parts of the country.

“They are Nigerians and are entitled to a fair consideration in the implementation process.”

The Centre said most of the vulnerable victims of poor execution of the policy are women, microenterprises and small businesses which are contributing immensely to employment, poverty reduction and social stability at the bottom of the economic pyramid of the country.

“It is bad enough that their lives and livelihoods have been terribly disrupted and disoriented.

“We plead with the CBN to review its processes in the interest of fairness, justice and social inclusion,” the Centre said.

Current approach Practically Impossible

Meanwhile, the Centre said the current approach being employed by the apex to handle the process is evidently impractical.

“It is impractical for the CBN offices to properly handle the process of receiving old currency notes which are still in abundance in the hands of millions of Nigerians.

“It noted that there is only one branch of the CBN office in each state of the federation and the FCT.

“It is practically impossible for the CBN to manage this process without subjecting our citizens to another round of harrowing experience.”

It said the experience and images and disorderliness of the past few days at the CBN offices graphically illustrates this position.

Conflicting Directives

Businessmetrics reported that the CBN last week issued two conflicting directives within few hours which further heightened tension.

While the CBN was believed to have directed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in the country to start taking deposit of old 1,000 and 500 naira notes of not more N500,000 from their customers, the apex bank deny same directive hours later which led to more confusion for Nigerians.

Nigeria is currently undergoing the process of withdrawing the old version of N1,000 and N500 notes from the system, to be replaced with the redesigned version of the currency notes as well N200 which, President Muhammadu Buhari, however, said would still remain a legal tender in the meantime.

In the face of scarce new notes coupled with old notes still held by Nigerians outside the banking system, the February 10 deadline given by the CBN to swap the noted has led to economic disruption and hardship for most Nigerians as they remain cashless.