New Notes: 300 LGs don’t have banks – APC chieftain

Salihu Lukman, National Vice Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (North-West), says there are over 300 out of 774 Local Governments, especially in the North, that have no presence of banks.

He said this while expressing concerns about the new Naira swap policy enforced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

In a statement titled “Cashless Economy and Presidential Cabal”, which was released in Abuja on Thursday, Lukman, who is also the Zonal Chairman of North-West APC, bemoaned the inability of his party leaders to convince President Muhammadu Buhari to rethink the implementation of the policy.

“With national elections a few days away and deliberate cash squeeze enforced by a deliberate policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigerians are today faced with the most uncertain of times.

Rivers to join S/Court suit against naira swap deadline

Naira crisis: CBN most outstanding threat to 2023 elections – Senator Bamidele

“This assumes that citizens have bank accounts and that bank branches exist in every part of the country. The reality, however, is that only about 39 per cent of Nigerians have bank accounts. More than 300 out of the 774 Local Governments in the country have no bank branches or cash centres. Where they exist, the bank branches and cash centres are mostly located in the headquarters. Specifically, in terms of cash centres, a total number of automated teller machines in the country is less than 20,000.

“These records suggest the need to take extra steps to strengthen the banking system in the country to meet up with the new demands that will be occasioned by the new policy. It will clearly require contingency measures to expand the banking system, such that citizens could exchange the old notes in locations that don’t have bank branches or cash centres such as ATMs. Given that the International Monetary Fund in November 2021 reported that Nigeria’s banks closed 234 branches and 649, ATMs, should have given a strong warning that the principles of ceteris paribus (all conditions remaining the same) would translate to failure for the new policy.

“Unfortunately, all these were overlooked. And for whatever reasons, the CBN and the Federal Government continue to delude themselves that the new policy can succeed with a very weak banking reality. In these circumstances, both the old and the new notes have disappeared across every part of the country. Even people with bank accounts can’t access their money.

“Somehow, because we are approaching the election period, the gullibility of Nigerians is being exploited. It is however worrisome how our party leaders are unable to convince Mr President to have a rethink about the implementation of this policy,” the statement read in part.

This is coming less than a day after the Supreme Court restrained the Federal Government from enforcing the deadline of old naira notes.

The CBN, which redesigned the naira, had fixed January 31 as the deadline for the old notes to be legal tender.

But the deadline was extended to February 10 after intense pressure on the Federal Government and the bank.

Last week, Godwin Emefiele, governor of CBN, had said the bank was not considering extending the deadline.

APC Governors had met with President Buhari over the issue and the president asked them to give him seven days to look into the issue.

But the governments of Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara states headed for the court to challenge the CBN.

In its ruling on Wednesday, a seven-member panel led by Justice John Okoro halted the Federal Government’s move.

The apex court ordered commercial banks and other financial institutions to continue transacting with the old notes pending the determination of the motion at the apex court on February 15