SANI DUTSINMA
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, Alhaji Buhari Abbas has directed five banks to immediately release the new Naira notes to POS operators who have accounts with them.
Alhaji Abbas gave the directive during sensitisation workshop for POS operators held in Gusau the state capital.
He warned that, any bank that issues old Naira notes among
Zenith Bank, Access Bank, UBA, First Bank and FCMB. 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.
Malam 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 conducted by Radio Nigeria Correspondent in Gusau, Sani Dutsinma indicated that, commercial activities in the state have paralyzed and nearest to collapsed as their is inadequate circulation of the new currencies.
Most of the small scale businesses have completely incapacitated and economically crippled while people become financially handicapped.
