Operatives of the Port Harcourt Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), have arrested a banker, Soberechukwu Inya Ewa and a Point of Sales (POS) cashier, Azubuike Mamwu Obasi for selling new naira notes to customers for commercial purposes.
According to a statement by Dele Oyewale Head, Media and Publicity at the EFCC, the suspects were arrested in the early hours of Friday, February 15, 2024, at Ecobank, Rumuobiakani and Maddox Night club, new Government Reservation Area, GRA, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Preliminary investigation revealed that Ewa, specialises in selling new naira notes of different denominations to POS cashiers for commercial purposes while Obasi was caught engaging in currency racketeering by charging fees for new naira notes. He was arrested while in possession of N554,600.00 ( Five Hundred and Fifty Four Thousand, Six Hundred Naira).
The anti-granft agency said the two suspects would soon be charged to court.
The persistent scarcity of naira in the country has been attributed to hoarding of naira notes by bank officials who prefer to sell both old and new naira notes to POS agents who in turn, sell at exorbitant rates to their customers.
Some of the operators in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt told ArmadaNews recently that all the “Nigerian banks are involved in currency racketeering.”
The situation has become alarming to the extent that banks hardly load money in their ATMs for their customers, whereas hundreds of thousands of POS across the country have cash available to sell to their customers at exorbitant rates.
To make up for the extra expense, the POS operators explained that they had no choice but to increase the charges paid by customers.
This illegality has continued to thrive despite repeated warnings by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The apex bank recently threatened to sanction banks and POS operators found to be complicit in the naira scarcity crisis.
“The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been drawn to alleged cases of collusion between some Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and Point-Of-Sale (PoS) operators affecting the availability of cash and disrupting the seamless circulation of the Naira.
“The CBN frowns at such inappropriate actions by certain individuals and is investigating the reported cases capable of undermining the smooth running of the economy.
“The CBN has, therefore, warned banks and PoS operators to desist from such activities as relevant sanctions shall be meted out to those found wanting,” a recent by the CBN read.