Founder and former President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Spain, Chief John Ugochukwu Nduwuisi has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to direct the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) to immediately halt the current scarcity of cash across bank counters and Automated Teller Machines(ATMs) to save Nigerians from the mental stress and difficulties they were going through to access their funds, especially as the Yuletide approaches.
In a statement in Abuja on Thursday, the chieftain of the Igbo social-cultural organisation Ohanaeze Ndigbo expressed disappointment that while Nigerians were finding it extremely difficult to access their funds in banks, operators of Point of sale (POS) machines had field days charging arbitrary fees for desperate Nigerians to withdraw money up to N1m and sometimes give out mint notes.
“There is certainly a connivance or a cartel in the CBN working in cohort with commercial banks to deprive bank customers of accessing their money to the advantage of the POS operators. Otherwise, how can they get cash to sell?” he quipped.
He noted that while President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was working hard to turn around the economy for the good of Nigerians, especially the downtrodden, some privileged people were thwarting the efforts by inflicting pain on Nigerians.
Nduwuisi urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr Olayemi Cardoso will redouble his efforts to bring more sanity to the banking sector by eliminating the cartel at the apex bank, which is working with commercial banks to frustrate Nigerians.
“Why on earth would Nigerians be allowed to buy their currency (Naira) and be charged higher rates?
The Ohanaeze chieftain also charged all elected and appointed government officials to emulate the president’s record of accomplishment in bringing about the dividends of democracy with the available resources.