The Central Bank of Nigeria has deployed personnel of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission to all the bank branches across the country.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this on Sunday after briefing President Muhammadu Buhari on the implementation of the naira redesign.
The apex bank had fixed January 31, 2023, as the deadline for the withdrawal of the old N1,000, N500 and N200 notes.
Bellnewsonline.com had reported that the CBN however shifted the date on the approval of President Buhari.
Banks have been accused by customers of hoarding cash and giving it to their preferred customers.
The CBN governor made the allegation at the first Monetary Policy Committee meeting last week.
But in a fresh development, the governor said the CBN has deployed deputy governors and senior staff across its branches in the country to monitor the circulation of the notes.
Emefiele said, “Although we have received some reports of breaches by some bank branches, we have agreed with the executive chairmen of the EFCC and ICPC to assist us by sending their staff to all CBN and bank branches to join in monitoring the implementation of this guideline.
“The aim is to ensure compliance with the laid down guideline. We are happy that so far, the exercise achieved a success of 75 per cent of the N2.7trn held outside the banking system. Nigerians in rural areas, our villages, the aged and the vulnerable have had the opportunity to swap their old notes leveraging the agent naira initiative as well as the CBN senior staff sensitisation exercise.“