By Adedapo Adesanya
Amid continued biting cash scarcity brought on by the plan to design three Naira denominations, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it has evacuated banknotes from its vaults to commercial banks across the country.
The apex bank, in a statement on Friday, said the measure is part of a coordinated effort to ease the circulation of banknotes of various denominations.
The CBN, in the statement on Friday signed by Mr Isa Abdulmumin, CBN spokesperson, said it has also directed all commercial banks to open for operation on Saturdays and Sundays.
He said that a substantial amount of money, in various denominations, had been received by the commercial banks for onward circulation to their respective customers.
He said the CBN had directed all banks to load their automated teller machines (ATMs) as well as conduct physical operations in the banking halls through the weekends.
“Branches of commercial banks will operate on Saturdays and Sundays to attend to customers’ cash needs,” the statement reads in part.
Mr Abdulmumin said Mr Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the national lender, would personally lead teams to monitor the level of compliance by the banks in various locations across the country.
He urged Nigerians to be patient as the current cash shortage would ease soon with the injection of more banknotes into circulation.
This is coming as the Nigeria Labour Congress threatened to embark on a strike from next Wednesday if the situation was not resolved.
Modupe Gbadeyanka