NAIRA REDESIGN: Notes yet to circulate seen being abused at wedding parties, Security consultant sparks

*Calls for presidential task force against saboteurs

*As Deposit Money Banks accused of sabotaging govt effort

By ABIRHIRE THOMAS

He pointed out that bundles of the same new naira notes, which were not yet adequately be in circulation, could be seen being abused at wedding and other parties as revealed in a video currently trending in the social media. “How did such naira abusers get the bundles of the new notes if not for the corruption of bank officials” he asked.

The Managing Director of Badison Security Limited, Mr. Matthew Ibadin, has called for an urgent setting up of a presidential task force to monitor banks.

This was as some commercial banks appear to have compromised in the timely disbursement of the new naira notes thereby causing panic among citizens and some National Assembly members calling for extension of the 31st January  2023 deadline given by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the return of old naira notes.

Speaking with newsmen in Lagos at the weekend, Ibadin noted that although the newly redesigned naira notes of N1000, N500 and N200 were yet to circulate appropriately in the public space since the CBN gave three months notice for the validity of the old notes to cease, it was obvious that many of the deposit money banks (DMBs) had embarked on dubious transactions.

He pointed out that bundles of the same new naira notes, which were not yet adequately be in circulation, could be seen being abused at wedding and other parties as revealed in a video currently trending in the social media.

“How did such naira abusers get the bundles of the new notes if not for the corruption of bank officials” he asked.

Last Tuesday while addressing journalists after a meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the CBN, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, had said that there was enough quantity of the new notes to go in circulation, adding that the CBN commissioned currency swap which would make it possible for banking agents to exchange the new notes with the old ones.

With these measures in place, Ibadin posited that the deposit banks must have compromised and therefore called on the Federal Government to constitute a task force to unravel the mystery behind the inadequate circulation of the newly redesigned naira notes even after CBN had ordered commercial banks to stop loading their Automated Teller Machines (ATM) with old notes.