Officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have raised the alarm that Point Of Sale (POS) agents are conniving with wealthy Nigerians to frustrate the circulation of the redesigned Naira notes across rural communities in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
According to the officials of the Apex bank who went to monitor the swapping of the new Naira notes for the old ones in Aleibiri, Ekeremor Town and Peretorugbene, the POS agents gave wrong addresses, collected the new notes and diverted them to Yenagoa, where they are being sold to wealthy Nigerians for profit.
Speaking to Nigerian Tribune, the leader of the team for the inspection, Fekete Ebiyiebo, explained that Access Bank, United Bank of Africa, First City Monument Bank, First Bank and Zenith Bank in partnership with the CBN on Wednesday released N500m to over 300 POS agents for distribution across seven LGAs, excluding Yenagoa.
Explaining further, Fekete said that when the team arrived in Aleibiri, Ekeremor Town and Peretorugbene, it was discovered that the agents who received the new notes for Ekeremor LGA were not on the ground, as they have diverted the cash to the Yenagoa, the State Capital, where they are being sold to eager Nigerians.
Nigerian Tribune which also monitored the exercise gathered that the said that campaign which is tagged “Cash Swap” will last till 31st January 2023, allowing rural dwellers to swap their old Naira notes for new ones based on N10,000 daily.
Furthermore, to help those who are yet to open an account in Communities where there are no banks, it was learnt that the five Banks that are involved in the campaign have empowered agents with BVN machines to process account registration for those who wish to open an account.
He said “in carrying out the exercise, we encountered a little challenge. We had a situation where POS agents claimed that they are operating in Ekeremor Local Government Area but after collecting the new notes from our partner banks in Yenagoa, instead of coming to Ekeremor, they rather stayed back with the money in Yenagoa.
“Meanwhile, the POS agents operating in the three cluster Communities, Ekeremor Town, Aleibiri and Peretorugbene, do have the new Naira notes to meet the demand of rural dwellers who are eager to swap their old Naira notes before the 31st January 2023, deadline.
“But thanks to God that when we came and identified this challenge, we went round to collect the details of POS agents that are on the ground to the bank so that they can be processed and given the new Naira notes to ensure that they are circulated on time.
“In terms of enlightenment, we have achieved so much, and the people are ready and willing to swap their old notes. But for those who do not have an account, the banks that were supposed to register and capture prospective customers came late and that gave us a little challenge too but we are hopeful that before the deadline, the old notes would go out of circulation.”