The Central Bank of Nigeria’s Director of Development Finance, Philip Yusuf-Yila, has revealed that the Gombe State branch of the CBN has enough money in its vault, ruling out scarcity of funds by commercial banks as reason for non-compliance with directives.
Yusuf-Yila disclosed this in an interview with journalists alongside his team at Heritage Bank, while undertaking an assessment tour on the redesigned notes policy in the state.
He expressed his dismay over an alleged technical glitch that affected one of the bank’s Automated Teller Machines, adding that if not resolved early the funds would be moved to another branch to ensure adequate circulation.
“I’m quite pleased with what I have seen on the ground today and the conduct of most of the customers. I have visited quite a lot of the banks and I have also been to our office, the Central Bank. I have looked at how much cash we are carrying, taking it not only to Gombe town. I’m also concerned about the other major cities Billiri, Kaltungo and other places. Most importantly, the branch has been dispensing cash to its customers through different channels; either over the counter, the ATMs; we have visited the super agents just to ensure that the process is seamless.
“We are in Heritage Bank and you can see one ATM is not working and I’m quite displeased about it. If you have two of the ATMs running, the crowd will gradually disappear. I have told my other colleagues if the ATM issue is not resolved, we’ll move the cash to any other branch so that we can move the money around,” he said.
He added that he had not got any report of banks underpaying, stressing that all the banks he visited were paying N20,000 to each customer.
“We have enough at the vault at the Central Bank to be able to push out,” he asserted.
While urging commercial banks to desist from sabotaging the policy, Yusuf-Yila called on customers to stop hoarding the new naira notes, adding that as a means of exchange, it should be used.
Speaking on how much the CBN has dispensed to banks in the state, he said, “I can’t begin to give out such figures. As you can see, the crowd is beginning to disappear. During my interactions, you see people are coming to transact.
“What we advise is that cash is a medium of exchange and it is not a medium of storage. What I’m seeing is that a lot of people are storing it and are not using to do business. More sensitisation is needed from myself and my colleagues.”
On Internet banking, the director said, “Financial inclusion is a key agenda for us. We have relaxed requirements for account opening for those who have cash at home to use the opportunity to deposit their money, and open their account.”
