Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has apologized to Nigerians for the increased number of failed electronic banking transactions.
Emefiele, speaking at the conclusion of a two-day monetary policy committee meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, assured Nigerians that the issue would be resolved quickly.
According to him, the apex’s bank payments system management department worked hard to ensure that downtime on electronic banking channels is addressed following a terrible time experienced by Nigerians through their mobile apps, USSD platforms, and debit cards following the implementation of the naira redesign policy and subsequent cash shortage.
“We must apologise. Yes, online channels fail. But no doubt it is as a result of the deluge of the volume of online transactions that hit the banking industry. But I think it is currently being resolved,” Emefiele said.
“On a daily basis, our payments system management department monitor the online payment platforms so as to make sure that when there is a downtime, they are quickly resolved so that transactions can go on smoothly.”
The CBN governor also addressed the country’s money supply, stating that the implementation of the naira redesign policy has resulted in a decrease in currency outside of banks.
He praised fintechs for making transactions easier for Nigerians by relieving pressure on traditional banks.
Emefiele said that “before the naira redesign, we said that there was about N3.23 trillion in circulation out of which only N500 billion was held in the banking system and N2.73 trillion was outside the banking system.”
“It was published yesterday that currency in circulation is close to N1 trillion. CBN will continue to pump the newly redesigned currency into the market.
“The truth is that at some point we will need to reassess to know whether the currency in circulation has attained an optimal level so as to put in place measures to ensure that we don’t go back to where we have before where people kept money outside the banking system for their own benefits,” he added.
