The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Zamfara State Branch, has ordered police to arrest people who refused to collect old naira notes, saying old naira notes is still legal tender until after the 31st of this month.
The CBN has further ordered five commercial banks in the state to immediately release new naira notes to Point of service (POS) operators or face sanction in the state.
Speaking during a sensitization workshop organised by the association of POS operators in Zamfara state held on Thursday at Maryam Hall in Gusau, the controller of CBN in the state, Mallam Buhari Abbas explained why CBN introduced new naira notes.
The state controller of CBN further urged operators of POS to consider and assist in opening a new bank account for anyone who wants to deposit money and has no account.
“Don’t allow people to lose their money because of non-having an account, assist, help those who want to deposit their money”.he stressed.
He explained that the Central bank of Nigeria has introduced new naira notes to reduce notes circulation in the hand of the public.
“Over 80% of naira notes were in the hands of people, hence there is a need to reduce the notes at hand, and the policy will harmonise the interest rate.”
According to him, the introduction of the new CBN policy is to bring more development,” the policy if properly utilized, the business will surely improve”.he said.
The Zamfara State CBN controller ordered five commercial banks in the state immediately release new naira notes to operators of POS specifically those operators with the account in the stated banks.
He disclosed that those commercial banks include First Bank, Access bank, UBA, FCMB and Zenith bank operating in the state.
Earlier on, the association of POS operators cried for help from the CBN over the non-availability of new naira notes in the state.
They lamented that both rural and Urban communities were finding it difficult to assess cash at the point of service across the state.
They further called for a more enlightened campaign to their members and the general public about the e-naira policy across the state.
