When Kano’s Commercial Banks Run Out Of Money, An Economic Catastrophe Is Impending.
As there is now no money in the vaults of Kano’s commercial banks, the acute pangs caused by the lack of naira may soon worsen for the city’s citizens.
Worse yet, despite a government warning to punish negligent businesses who refuse legal money, both new and old generations of financial institutions have stopped accepting old naira notes from consumers during the last three days.
After the conclusion of the commission’s enforcement operation on Wednesday evening, Barr. Mahmoud Balarabe, chairman of the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-corruption Commission, spoke to press.
After a wave of public protest over the outright rejection of the old naira notes, Barr. Balarabe said that the Anti-corruption Commission had started enforcement operations against banks, gas stations, and other establishments.
The head of anti-corruption asserted that the majority of financial institutions are currently operating with empty vaults after depositing old notes to the Central Bank of Nigeria in response to mounting pressure and accusations against commercial banks regarding the lack of new naira notes in circulation (CBN).
According to Mr. Balarabe, the panel observed cash distribution and flow at around 10 branches of different commercial banks in Kano and found that neither the old nor the new legal money were accessible. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), according to the bank managers, refused to provide them replacement naira notes, he said.
We went to the banks and checked the vaults; sadly, we found that Kano has no active vaults. Our first assumption is that the banks purposely withheld the naira notes from the general population while concealing them. But it turned out we were mistaken. Once the banks sent money to the CBN, the CBN declined to grant them any more money.
