Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun has said his administration will henceforth deploy cabinet members into towns to monitor cash swapping processes between residents and commercial banks across the state.
The governor disclosed that the step became exigent following the increasing hardship being faced by residents who are daily being subjected to long queues, particularly at Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) across the state.
Abiodun gave the indication yesterday when he paid an unscheduled visit to the Abeokuta branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to seek relief on the amounts that citizens can withdraw in exchange for deposits made at the commercial banks.
He said the direct involvement of his cabinet members is meant to complement efforts of the nation’s apex bank towards ensuring that neither the commercial banks, nor any of their agents conveniently hoard the new naira notes anywhere in the state.
Speaking during his visit to the CBN management under the control of the branch controller, Wahab Oseni in Abeokuta, Abiodun expressed sadness over the incident, saying “it is disappointing to see long queues of residents at Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) waiting to cash money from the system with so much stress and some not getting enough to meet their immediate needs”.
The governor, who later met with the state branch of the Bankers Forum, made up of managers of commercial banks in the state, also extracted a commitment from both the CBN and commercial banks to make cash available to bank customers from Tuesday.
He added that it is humiliating that those who were attended to were paid not more than two thousand naira per transaction.
Earlier in his remarks, the state controller of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Wahab Oseni pleaded with the people to exercise patience.
He assured the people of the state that they will start having access to more cash as from tomorrow, Tuesday, February 7th, 2023.
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