As part of efforts to ensure that the new naira notes are made available to all and sundry before the 31st January deadline, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday deployed agents to villages in Gombe State to swap their old currencies with the new ones.
The director of Development Finance Department (DFD) of the apex bank Philip Yila Yusuf represented by the Gombe State controller of the CBN, Shehu Alhaji Goringo led the team of agents and staff drawn from commercial banks to replace the naira notes for rural dwellers in the state.
While at Kaltungo local government, Goringo said CBN had distributed adequate funds to commercial banks and directed them to work for as many hours as possible a day and on weekends to attend to the people who want to swap their naira notes.
According to him, the agents have been instructed to change the currency for people with cash not more than N10, 000 even without having bank accounts while those with more than the stipulated amount would have accounts opened for them instantly by the agents and get the new money. “Like any other visitation we carried out in Gombe, this is part of a sensitisation programme organised by CBN. We are working together with the banks and agents to ensure that the currency swap approved by the governor of the central bank is carried out effectively. So, that is why we are here in Kaltungo.
“We are making sure that the money is given out to the banks and the agents will have the opportunity to exchange this money,” he said. He added that the CBN has directed the commercial banks to stop dispensing the old notes, saying that necessary measures will be taken against erring banks.
