Nigeria’s currency,the Naira, in all its denominations, has been severely mutilated, overused and over-circulated such that it has become an issue of luck to come across a clean note.
However, the scarcity of the clean notes is due, in part, to the fact that the Central Bank of Nigeria has refused to recycle the old notes while it imposes charges on commercial banks that want to change the dirty notes to cleaner ones, thereby turning it into a money-making practice.
Access to clean notes is now by luck, special request with pleas and sometimes, financial inducement and purchase from sellers who have taken to the streets to sell the clean notes to legitimate customers who have no access to them.
Many Nigerians wonder why the CBN has refused to withdraw the bad notes from circulation and replace them with clean ones.
A cross section of bank workers alleged that the CBN has refused to recycle bad notes because it makes a lot of money from the dirty notes in circulation. They alleged that the CBN imposes a charge on commercial banks when they return dirty notes for replacement.
A senior executive in one of the new generation banks,said that the CBN charges N12,000 flat rate on each box of naira notes the commercial banks take to the CBN for exchange to clean notes, regardless of the denomination.
“No commercial bank wants to take responsibility for the dirty notes that it did not give out because CBN imposes a charge on returned notes. That is why banks do not want to collect bad notes from customers again and it is one of the reasons the bad notes are everywhere''.
Another source said the amount being charged by the CBN was 5% of the total amount taken for exchange.
However, due to the crave and increasing demand for clean notes by the citizenry for various reasons, most people who are in need of the clean notes resort to buying them on the streets.
The naira has become an object of trade in many places, as people now sell the clean notes on the street, usually at major parks, garages and parties. Visits to many parks within the Lagos metropolis revealed that Nigerians now patronise the hawkers on the street to get clean notes, an act which the CBN described as unlawful.
Investigations revealed that people pay as much as N200 on every N1,000 clean notes, regardless of the denomination. Even though most of the money-changers said that N50 clean notes have not been available since last year, other denominations are available in surplus.
“Supply from the CBN is more reliable, consistent and readily available because they are in charge of the issuance of notes, but we also get the new notes from commercial banks. We have people who buy from the banks and supply us.
“We also buy from them and we pay between N100 and N150 on every N1,000. We have to make some profit, that is why we sell at N200 on every N1,000.”
Tina, a money-changer at Iyana Ipaja (Lagos) park, also gave the same rate of N200 on every N1,000.
When asked if she could change N50,000 to mint, she said, “Even if you have more, you will get it. I have it.”
Asked how she gets the new notes, Tina said that that there are middle-men who buy the notes from the banks and sell to them.
“It is a chain-like business. We have some big people who buy the notes from both the CBN and commercial banks in large quantities, they sell to us and we sell to our customers.
“The thing is that the CBN is our main source because commercial banks do not have the clean notes in commercial quantity, hence, they can’t meet our demand. If you go to commercial banks, you would see tellers and other staff members scrambling to keep the notes anytime they come across them.
Findings revealed that most of the hawkers who have the notes in large quantities get them from the CBN while those who need money to spray at parties get them from commercial banks.
Even though CBN recently denied the allegation that their staff sell naira notes, the hawkers said they get the large chunk of the new notes from the CBN while the remaining comes from the commercial banks, all through informal means.
It was also learnt that concerned bank officials who sell the notes would prefer to sell to the hawkers and make money than make them available to the customers at no extra cost.
The hawkers or their middlemen have links with some senior staff members of the CBN and the Cash Management Units of the commercial banks.
Some bank officials however said they do not pay to get mint from the CBN.
The CBN said that it had established channels of distribution through which it disburses clean naira notes to all deposit money banks licensed to operate in Nigeria.
In spite of its refutation of reports that it is responsible for the artificial scarcity of new naira notes, staff members of commercial banks, hawkers of the notes and many Nigerians have pointed accusing fingers at the apex bank.
Nigerian can buy and sell anything including human parts. As long as there's a market for it. May God help us!
ReplyDeleteDon't even think banks have seen mint money in a long while cos the last time I asked for it the paying teller looked at me like I was an alien.
ReplyDeleteNa wa for Naija.
ReplyDelete