The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has accused point-of-sale (POS) employees in rural Ekeremor Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, of planning with wealthy Nigerians to obstruct the circulation of the recently redesigned Naira notes.
To observe the transfer to the new Naira notes, central bank officials travelled to Aleibiri, Ekeremor Town, and Peretorugbene. They claim that POS agents there supplied phoney addresses, stole the new money, and then sold it for a profit in Yenagoa.
Fekete Ebiyiebo, the leader of the inspection team, told the media that the CBN distributed N500 million to over 300 POS agents on Wednesday so they could distribute the money among seven LGAs in addition to Yenagoa, working with Access Bank, United Bank of Africa, First City Monument Bank, First Bank, and Zenith Bank.
Fekete went on to explain that the agents who received the brand-new notes for the Ekeremor LGA were not there when the team arrived at Aleibiri, Ekeremor Town, and Peretorugbene because they had brought the cash to Yenagoa, the State Capital, where it was being sold to eager Nigerians.
Using a daily exchange rate of N10,000, the "Cash Swap" initiative enables residents of rural areas to trade in their old Naira notes for new ones, according to data gathered by Prime 9ja Online, which also kept track of the project.
It was also found that the five participating banks had provided BVN equipment to their agents in order to make it easier for people who wanted to open accounts in communities without access to banks to do so.
In describing the exercise’s execution, he added, “we encountered a little challenge. We had a situation where POS agents claimed they were operating in Ekeremor Local Government Area. Still, after collecting the new notes from our partner banks in Yenagoa, instead of coming to Ekeremor, they instead stayed back with the money in Yenagoa.
“Meanwhile, the POS agents operating in the three cluster Communities, Ekeremor Town, Aleibiri and Peretorugbene, do have the new Naira notes to meet the demand of rural dwellers who are eager to swap their old Naira notes before the 31st January 2023, deadline.
“But thanks to God that when we came and identified this challenge, we went round to collect the details of POS agents that are on the ground to the bank so that they can be processed and given the new Naira notes to ensure that they are circulated on time.
“In terms of enlightenment, we have achieved so much, and the people are ready and willing to swap their old notes. But for those who do not have an account, the banks that were supposed to register and capture prospective customers came late and that gave us a little challenge too but we are hopeful that before the deadline, the old notes would go out of circulation.”