The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced that residents of rural and unbanked areas can no longer exchange old notes for new ones through its cash‑swap programme. Acting CBN Spokesperson Isa Abdulmumin confirmed in a telephone interview that the initiative has fulfilled its mandate and is now closed, stating, “The cash swap was not in perpetuity and has a lifeline.”
The Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria (AMMBAN) described the programme as ineffective, noting minimal participation from stakeholders. The CBN had originally introduced the cash‑swap scheme to enable citizens in rural areas or those with limited access to formal financial services to exchange old naira notes for redesigned ones. To promote financial inclusion, the CBN excluded mobile‑money and point‑of‑sale agents in Abuja and Lagos, maintaining that the service was available to anyone without a bank account. The programme also limited withdrawals to N10,000 per customer.
In an assessment, AMMBAN National Publicity Officer Oluwasegun Elegbade argued that recent mob attacks on banks could have been avoided if the programme had achieved its objectives. He said, “The programme has not been really effective as it should. If it worked, we would not have witnessed the number of crises that erupted across the country. We expected more participation as far as the swap is concerned. The operators were given control over the whole thing with little monitoring. Without monitoring, many of the states just did as they wanted. The CBN only set up a monitoring team in less than five states. Overall, it wasn’t an effective initiative.”
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