The Central Bamk of Nigeria (CBN) has said it has commited to protecting Nigerians in unbanked, underserved, and rural areas.
The CBN Director, Corporate Communications, Mr. Ostia Nwanisobi said the apex bank is pleased with the increased currency deposits in the country following the currency redesign announcement.
“The CBN is pleased to note the positive response of the banking public to the policy through increased currency deposits across banks and other financial institutions,” he said.
He said the “CBN remains committed to the seamless implementation of the initiative to ensure the achievement of its objectives to preserve the integrity of the local legal tender by reducing the significant amount of cash outside the banking system and its use in criminal activities, curtail counterfeiting, and promote financial inclusion, amongst others.”
He noted he progressive increase in financial access points and alternative banking channels over the years (electronic/internet banking, mobile apps, ATM, Cards/PoS, eNaira, agent banking, etc.),
He said the Bank acknowledges that these may not be evenly distributed across all geopolitical zones and in some rural area this initiative, the CBN has been collaborating with relevant agencies in the financial system in its execution, particularly ensuring that they are not disenfranchised.
Accordingly, he ssid the banking public in rural areas can access any CBN branches in the 36 States of the Federation to enquire about options for depositing their current N200, #500, and N1,000 notes, wallet/account Was processes, financial access points, etc.
Furthermore, he said agent locations across the country are fully enabled for BVN registration, opening banking accounts/wallets, e-Naira wallets, lectronic card distribution, and cash deposit, among others.
According to him due to the policy, the agents have also been accorded priority to enable them to deposit cash collections through bank branches across the federation.
