Nigerians need to change attitude towards Naira – Expert

Stakeholders in the financial sector, say Nigerians need to change their attitude towards using the Naira as a way of getting rid of cases of mutilated Naira notes in the country.

Investigations revealed that before now, a large number of filthy and tattered notes are the N100 and N50 denominations, but now almost all denominations of the naira currently in circulation have a large percentage of torn or dirty elements.

Anor Anyanwu, a former Executive Director, Mainstreet Bank, said though the withdrawal of mutilated notes from circulation is the responsibility of the CBN and that currencies become very bad and are no longer useful the apex bank should withdrawal it and replaces it.

He, however, added that the damaged done to currencies are the responsibilities of Nigerian and Nigerians need to wake up from this abuse of the Naira.

His words: “We must respect the Naira. Even the issue of spraying the Naira must be revisited. We need to wake up as citizens and realise that we have a responsibility to ensure that our currency is respected. The CBN is not the cause of mutilated notes we see around. We need to help the CBN in this regard.

Anyanwu noted that most Nigerians should begin to take advantage of the available alternative payment channels to reduce cases of mutilated currencies in circulation, stressing that though a lot of transactions are now done through alternative channels.

“Transactions using mobile channels are unbelievable but there is a need to note that some transactions are only going to be done with cash. The fares you pay to commercial buses, okada riders and others are done with cash. If you go to the market to buy things, the woman who don’t have PoS and whose business cannot afford a PoS will still take cash from you”, he added.

To encourage the use of alternative channels, Kunle Johnson, a Lagos-based financial analysts and chartered accountant, said the CBN and the banks should give incentives that will encourage people to use these channels.

His words: “Charges by banks should be reduced to encourage use of alternative channels. If there are incentives, people will prefer using these channels than carry cash. The cashless policy of the CBN should be looked into to give room to transactions in lower currency notes”.

There are reports that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) charges commercial banks that return dirty and mutilated Naira notes in exchange for new ones may have worsened the scarcity of new and clean notes.

A bank official said CBN charges 5 per cent of the total amount of dirty notes tendered by a commercial bank in exchange for new ones.