The Central Bank of Nigeria has directed all commercial banks to open for operation on Saturdays and Sundays as part of a coordinated effort to ease the circulation of banknotes of various denominations.
It also confirmed the evacuation of banknotes from its vaults to commercial banks across the country.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by the CBN Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, Isa AbdulMumin, in Abuja on Friday afternoon.
According to the statement, a substantial amount of money, in various denominations, had been received by the commercial banks for onward circulation to their respective customers as well as conduct physical operations in the banking halls through the weekends.
Part of the statement read, “The CBN had directed all banks to load their Automated Teller Machines as well as conduct physical operations in the banking halls through the weekends.
“Branches of commercial banks will operate on Saturdays and Sundays to attend to customers’ cash needs.
“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 country.”
The bank, therefore, urged Nigerians to be patient as the current situation would ease soon with the injection of more banknotes into circulation.
The PUNCH reports that authorities have stepped up efforts to end the biting currency scarcity that has inflicted pain on millions of bank customers nationwide after a supreme court ruling and a proposed protest by the Nigeria Labour Congress next week.