Amgbare Ekaunkumo, Yenagoa
The Bayelsa State Government has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to make the new banknotes available to commercial banks in the state to mitigate the suffering of the people.
The State Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, who made the call at a meeting with bank managers and service commanders in Yenagoa, expressed concern over the difficulties the people experience following the scarcity of the new banknotes in the state.
A statement issued by his media aide, Mr Doubara Atasi, quoted Senator Ewhrudjakpo as saying that the meeting was convened as a response to the security concerns resulting from the CBN naira swap policy and the attendant hardship being faced by the public to get the new naira notes to meet their daily transactional needs.
He urged residents of Yenagoa to be law-abiding, assuring that government would take precautionary measures to prevent any breach of the existing peace in the state.
His words, Our number one responsibility as a government is to ensure peace and security of our people. We are aware and deeply concerned about what our people are passing through because of the CBN currency swap policy.
“That is why we called this meeting to see how we can manage the situation we have in our hands. We believe the banks should be open for business because the security agencies are there to protect you.
“This idea of locking up the banks is not helping us. If there is no money, you let the public know. But if the people know you have money and you are not paying or transacting business, it will definitely cause problems. And that’s what we don’t want.”
Briefing the press, the Commissioner of Police, CP Ben Okolo, said the meeting was about taking stock of the various measures and efforts being made by government and the banks to ensure peace as well as assuage the suffering of the people.
CP Okolo assured that the State Police Command had beefed up security in all the commercial banks and the CBN in Yenagoa following a communique reportedly issued by a group of people threatening to attack banks over the scarcity of the new banknotes.
He said: “Effort being made by the Government is to ensure that the security situation in the state continues to be peaceful even with the misinformation or disinformation that is in the public domain and threats of protest against the cashless policy and scarcity of fuel.
“The meeting is to interact with these bankers and proffer solutions. They have mentioned their fears of security threats and the security agencies including the police have allayed their fears that appropriate arrangement are on ground to ensure that there won’t be any breach of peace..”
In their contributions, representatives of the various commercial banks in Yenagoa, explained that their institutions had to shut down their operations temporarily upon receipt of the said communique to avoid loss of lives and property
They however lamented that the cash crunch being witnessed in the state was due to short supply of the new banknotes from the Central Bank of Nigeria, stressing that once funds were received, all their payment channels would be made accessible to members of the public.
According to them, scarcity of the new naira notes is being exacerbated by owners of major businesses like petrol filling stations, supermarkets and wholesalers who sell banknotes to Point of Sale (POS) operators, thereby denying the banks of deposits since the implementation of the CBN policy.
While calling for proper information management, they debunked the rumour that the Central Bank was supplying 30 million naira daily to commercial banks in Yenagoa.
Commercial banks in attendance included Zenith, Fidelity, Access, Ecobank, Unity Bank, Keystone, Premium Trust, Globus and FCMB.
