CBN blames Nigerians for naira scarcity

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Thursday blamed Nigerians for the scarcity of the naira notes in the country.

The Director of Consumer Protection, Rashidat Monguno, stated this during a visit to some Microfinance banks in Kwara State.

The CBN director was in Kwara to monitor the compliance of MFBs in the state to the apex bank’s directive on the naira redesign policy.

Monguno, who decried the hoarding of the naira notes by some unscrupulous individuals in the country, insisted that the current notes would remain scarce due to the attitude of Nigerians.

She said: “Because of the attitude of some Nigerians in hoarding the money, even those that don’t really need the money are rushing to get it and keep it, not to spend.

“Currency management is a cycle but we have not allowed the cycle to mature, because when you issue our currency as CBN, what we expect is that the naira issued will come back into the banking system again.

“But now, everybody collecting the naira is hoarding it. So, no matter how much naira we put out there, if we continue with this attitude and the CBN issue (new notes) from now till December, it will still not be enough.”

Monguno explained that despite the scarcity, the CBN would not continue to release banknotes into circulation because of the impact on the economy.

“And you know that in every economy, you must have proper accountability on the indent.

“You just don’t issue naira for the fun of it, you issue the amount that is commensurate with the level of activity you have in that country,” the CBN official added.