Bank customers can reject N5000 note – CBN
The Central Bank of Nigeria has said that it will
be illegal for banks to compel their customers to accept the N5000
note when it comes into existence..
The apex bank, which denied
allegations that it was forcing the new structure of the naira on Nigerians,
said customers could reject N5000 note from banks
“I say this with all sense
of responsibility as the deputy governor of the central bank that we shall
ensure that no bank imposes N5000 on anybody who does not want it. You can go
to your bank and say you don’t need N5000 note,” Deputy Governor (Operations)
of the CBN, Mr. Tunde Lemo, said in a Channels Television interview
programme on Saturday.
Lemo added that, “Every
Nigerian has the prerogative of the currency he or she wants to have. You can
go to your bank and say, you don’t need N5000 note. You can say ‘give me
N500, N200 and N100.’ It will be illegal for that bank to say you must
have N5000.
“We did not say take or
leave it. If you don’t need it, you don’t need to ask for it. We
are not saying people will be compelled to take the N5000 note.”
The ‘reject-N5000 note-call’
came even as the Nigerian Bar Association insisted that it would take the apex
bank to court if it went ahead to introduce the N5000 denomination.
The NBA told The PUNCH
on Sunday that it had not changed its position on the N5000 note. The
association had in a statement after its Annual General Meeting on August
31, described introduction of N5000 as “a scam.”
But Lemo said the CBN was
not averse to the criticisms trailing the planned currency restructuring. He
described as untrue, a claim that the apex bank was forcing the proposed
scheme on Nigerians.
He said, “We are
public officers. We operate for public good. We may not be popular. Central
banking anywhere in the world is not a popularity contest. We are interested in
doing what is good and to explain what we are doing to the satisfaction of the
public that we serve. That is why the dialogue that is going on is very
important.”
Submitting that that
the CBN had the power to print currency notes and mint coins , Lemo
added that it (CBN) was taking advantage of technology to stay
“ahead of counterfeiters.”
The CBN deputy governor also
faulted the claim that the apex bank’s cashless policy in Lagos State had failed.
He explained that the
bank first introduced cashless banking in Lagos because the state is a
miniature Nigeria and due to the level of
infrastructure obtainable therein .
Lemo said, “There are
challenges that are outside the area of control of individuals and
stakeholders. These are issues that we are dealing with. We cannot say we
failed. It is just that the speed with which we should be running is slowed
down by some of these challenges.”
He said that the CBN had set
up a Customers’ Protection Department to handle complaints against banks.
He added that banks had been
asked to set up help desks to cater for the new scheme and that issues that are
not resolved within 48 hours should be referred to the CBN.
Meanwhile, the NBA has
said it will go to court to stop the CBN from going ahead with the
proposed introduction of N5000 note.
The association had in
a statement described the proposal as a “shallow and poorly
thought-out initiative” by the CBN. It added that N5000 notes
would diminish the lives of Nigerians and push corruption and money laundering
to unimaginable heights.
The NBA president, Mr. Okey
Wali (SAN), while reacting to the endorsement of the scheme by the
National Economic Management Team, said the association had not changed its
position.
Wali, in a
telephone interview with one of our correspondents, explained that though
the association was watching the situation, it would not go back on its
position.
Wali said, “We are watching
the situation, but we are maintaining our position that the CBN should not go
ahead with the introduction of N5000 note.
“We made it very clear in
our communiqué why the Federal Government should not go ahead with it
(introduction of N5000 note).”
Also on Sunday,
the Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communnion),
Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, said the introduction of N5000 note
was not the solution to the problems facing Nigeria for now.
He spoke at the consecration
of the Bishop of Ifo, Ogun State, Nathaniel Oladejo
Ogundipe, at St. Bartholomew’s Cathedral, Kubwa in the Federal Capital Territory.
He said, “For me, they have
explained to us that it is not going to cause inflation, but in my opinion as a
common man, we don’t need N5000 note. We don’t even have money and there is
poverty everywhere. If there is something else we can do with money, let us do
it and stop not printing N5000 note. I don’t think it is desirable.
“It may not cause inflation
as people fear, according to the economic analysis. But we are aware that the
ones introduced before actually caused problems and reduced our lower
denomination to nothing. I don’t think higher denomination is our problem
today. Nigeria has many other problems to
face than introducing higher denomination of money.”
Source : Punch
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