The PUNCH: Indications have emerged that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is set to raid new naira note racketeers in key commercial cities including Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Kaduna. The commission indicated this on Tuesday when it disclosed that it had arrested members of a syndicate of currency racketeers trading in the redesigned naira notes at Zone 4, Wuse and Dei-Dei axis of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The Guardian: Tension over scarcity of cash has worsened across the country, with millions of Nigerians denied access to their savings. From the agony of failed electronic money transfer to the pains of staying endlessly on queue to use an Automated Teller Machine (ATM), thousands of households are groaning amid cash scarcity, even as many have run out of essential supplies.
This Day: Emefiele made this known Tuesday in Abuja during his appearance before the House of Representatives Adhoc Committee on Cashless Policy. The CBN governor had after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Daura on Sunday announced the extension of the deadline for the old naira notes from January 31 to February 10. He also announced a 7-day grace period from January 31, when the old notes would have lost legal tender status, to February 17 for people with the old notes to swap them at the CBN.
The Nation: Banks are to blame for the scarcity of new naira notes, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele said yesterday. He said some of them have not complied with a directive to only load the new notes on Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs).
Daily Trust: Five governors, who are members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have failed to name their preferred presidential candidate in January as promised by their leader, Governor Nyesom Wike in December, Daily Trust reports. Dubbed G-5, the governors; Wike, Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) have vowed to work against their party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar
