We work 24/7 to print new naira notes-Mint worker, says, “Scarcity is artificial”

 A staff of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Plc has said the paucity of new naira notes in Nigeria is a result of sabotage by some forces adding that the staff of the company have been working 24/7 to meet the money requests of banks.

 The worker who spoke with Church Times on the condition of anonymity however said “the supply of money is also controlled by the government. If the government wants to flood the banks with enough naira notes, it could do so in a matter of days. What the government is doing is to control the amount of cash in circulation.”

 He said the Printing and Minting company has the capacity to meet the naira needs of the country.

 According to him, since the government introduced the policy, the security printing and the minting company have been working round the clock. “Right now we have been asked to step up the print of the N100 notes and the N50 notes apart from the new notes.

 On banks sabotaging government efforts, he said,  “Banks are getting their daily supply of money, but they are not releasing the money to the public. A bank like Standard Chartered for instance has been paying the new notes. Why are other banks not paying? I agree that some other banks have many branches but even the headquarters of these banks are not paying the new notes.” he said.

 He reasoned that some bank officials may also be colluding with politicians to hoard the money. “You know this is an election year. Many politicians need to spend money to prosecute their campaigns and lobby people.

 “Some of these people will not want the electronic transfer of funds because they don’t want to leave a trace of the illicit money they collect.

 “I believe the chunk of the money that should be in the public arena is in the hands of politicians through the help of some bank officials.

 “Apart from that government is also deliberately trying to reduce the amount of money in circulation.

 “What we have now is that little money is pursuing many goods and services. Somehow the naira is gaining value to some extent.”

 He said the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting company has been printing the nation’s currency for the past 7 years. “Money is not printed abroad again. We have the capacity to meet our naira need as I said earlier. But a number of factors are responsible for the challenge we are currently experiencing.”

 The bad network system according to him is also responsible for the itches that people are experiencing. ‘many of the banks are having issues with their online banking system. Ideally, Nigerians should be encouraged to embrace a cashless system, but when the network is not working, it becomes a problem.”