A monitoring team of the Central Bank of Nigeria has accused the Sterling Bank branch in Ado Ekiti, the capital of Ekiti State of hoarding new naira notes it had collected for almost two weeks, claiming that their automated teller machines were not yet configured.
In a trending video on Sunday, a deputy director of the CBN, who identified himself at Owoeye said there was no excuse for keeping the cash.
Speaking in the viral video, he said, “I’m currently at Sterling Bank as part of this monitoring compliance with the guidelines by the CBN. They have six million which they have collected from the bank for almost two weeks. They have not dispensed any. They said they are yet to configure their ATM. I don’t know why. I have brought their attention to the penalty clause of one million per day. They have five ATMs. They don’t have any reason for keeping this money.”
Nigerians have been facing a lot of hardship over the scarcity of the new naira notes in recent days.
This is as traders have also been lamenting low sales as customers also battle with poor network when they attempt to make transfers, causing many not to eventually buy the goods again.
The deadline for the validity of the old naira notes remains February 10, 2023, according to the CBN.
