As the old naira notes are expected to be out of circulation by the end of this month, the Controller, Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Zamfara state branch, has vowed to sanction any bank that failed to release new Naira notes to operators of Point Of Sales, POS in the state.
The CBN Controller in the state, Alhaji Buhari Abbas, who disclosed this at a sensitisation workshop for POS operators held in Gusau, directed five banks to immediately release the new Naira notes to POS operators who are operating accounts with them.
Alhaji Abbas warned that, any bank among Zenith Bank, Access Bank, UBA, First Bank and FCMB that issue old Naira notes would be sanctioned.
The Controller also called on the POS operators to report any bank that refused to comply with the CBN directive, adding that only POS operators who have accounts with the five affected banks would benefit from the gesture.
According to him, the POS operators could only collect N500, 000 daily and would not give a customer more than 10,000 per day.
He warned the POS operators to desist from charging their customers above the normal fee, adding that anyone caught collecting high charges would be arrested and prosecuted.
Abbas stressed that, the old Naira notes would continue to be spent until January 31, adding that the deadline would be 12 o’clock midnight on Tuesday 31st January, 2023.
Speaking at the occasion, the chairman of POS operators, Alhaji Kabiru Abubakar commended the CBN for the assistance it has been rendering to their members in the state.
He called on the CBN to direct the commercial banks to release other denomination like N100, N50, N20, N10 and N5 so as to enable commercial activities to go smoothly.
Investigation by Daily Telescope indicated that, commercial activities in the state have paralyzed due to inadequate circulation of the new currencies.
Many traders in the state are rejecting the old Naira notes while the new ones are not adequately circulating.