As part of a coordinated effort to facilitate the circulation of banknotes of various denominations, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has confirmed the evacuation of banknotes from its vaults to commercial banks throughout the nation.
Additionally, the CBN has ordered all commercial banks to be open on Saturdays and Sundays.
Dr. Isa AbdulMumin, the CBN’s acting director of corporate communications, made this announcement on Friday in Abuja, saying that the commercial banks had received a sizeable sum of money in a variety of denominations for distribution to their respective customers.
He claimed that the CBN had instructed all banks to operate physically in the banking halls over the weekends in addition to loading their Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, would personally lead teams to monitor the level of compliance by the banks in various locations across the nation, he added. “Branches of commercial banks will operate on Saturdays and Sundays to attend to customers’ cash needs,” he noted.
He thus pleaded with Nigerians to exercise patience, as the current scenario would soon improve as additional banknotes entered the market.