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New Naira Notes: Why we didn’t dispense N6m in our vault — Sterling Bank

Published

1 year ago

February 6, 2023

Sterling Bank PLC has offered reasons why it did not disburse the N6 million in N200 denomination found in its vault in its Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State branch.

The Bank offered the explanation on Sunday night after a viral video showed that it had the money in its vault.

The discovery followed the visit of an official of the Central Bank of Nigeria to the vault of the bank.

The official, who identified himself simply as Owoeye, a Deputy Director, made the discovery public, ordering that the branch must commence the dispensing of the money the following morning at the latest.

Reacting in the statement on Sunday, Sterling Bank PLC said at the time the fund was discovered, it was yet to configure its Automated Teller Machine for the dispensing of N200 notes.

It said the new N1,000 and N500 notes in its possession at the time had been disbursed.

The statement, titled: “New Notes Distribution At Ado-Ekiti Branch,” said: “We would like to formally state the facts surrounding our branch in Ado Ekiti.

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“The Naira notes referenced were received prior to the re-configuration of the branch’s Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) to dispense the 200 Naira denomination.

“On January 23, 2023, a regulatory official visited our branch in Ado-Ekiti and the vault contained N 6,000,000 in N200 denominations.

“During the visit, the official observed that we had ran out of N1,000 and N500 notes on that day and were unable to load the N200 as the ATMs had not yet been configured to dispense N200 notes.

“At the time of the visit, the subsisting instruction was that the newly designed notes were not to be dispensed over the counter.

“All our ATMs have been dispensing the available quantities of the N1000 and N500 denominations of the newly designed currency as received since the commencement of the policy. We have also successfully reconfigured our ATMs nationwide to dispense N200 notes.

“All denominations can now be withdrawn from our ATMs and over the counter in line with regulatory pronouncement on February 2, 2023.

“We hereby confidently assure the public that the branch was not hoarding any funds and that Sterling remains at the forefront of ensuring that this exercise is a resounding success.

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“Together, we will all overcome this inconvenience and come out stronger.”

As reported earlier by The Eagle Online:
A video showing several bundles of new Naira notes hidden in a room at Sterling Bank PLC, Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State has been trending on social media.

The bank was said to have refused to dispense it through its five Automated Teller Machines for about two weeks.

A background voice, who identified himself simply as Owoeye, a Deputy Director with the Central Bank of Nigeria, stated that the bank officials claimed the ATMs were yet to be configured.

Owoeye said: “They have N6 million, which they collected from Central Bank of Nigeria for about two weeks but never disbursed any.

“They said they are yet to configure the ATM.

“I don’t know why that is so.

“I brought their attention to the penalty clause of N1 million per day because they have five ATMs

“So, they don’t have any reason for keeping this money.

“The Zonal Service Manager, Kunle Onipede, promised that latest 10am tomorrow, because I promised them that I will be here by 10am and I want to see the machine dispensing this money.

“This is Olumide Owolabi, Service Manager, Ado, and Motunrayo Babayemi.

“My name is Owoeye, I am a Deputy Director from CBN.”

Related Topics:Featured new naira Sterling Bank

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Missing Delta varsity female student found dead, two suspects arrested

Published

9 hours ago

May 6, 2024

Trends Admin

Miss Faith Omodon

Missing Delta varsity female student found dead, two suspects arrested

Two suspects are in the custody of the Edo State Police Command in connection with the disappearance and death of a 200-level undergraduate of Delta State University of Science and Technology, Agbor, Miss Faith Omodon.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the inhabitants of Iru Egbede community in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State had, on March 30, reported the sudden disappearance of their daughter who was studying Business Administration at DELSU.

The father of the missing girl, Edward Omodon, had told our correspondent that his daughter was last seen on March 30, after she left home for the farm on a motorcycle. He said the incident occurred when the community was holding their national conference.

“We usually have the Iru National Conference at this time of the year. We were seated inside the community hall when we heard loud wailing outside that my daughter was missing. She had left for the farm earlier that morning with a motorcycle, taking her breakfast in a flask with her,” he said.

However, our correspondent gathered on Sunday that the community’s vigilante group arrested and handed over two suspects in connection with the disappearance.

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Speaking with PUNCH Metro on the incident, on Sunday, the National Youth Chairman of Iru- Egbede, Donald Isioma, disclosed that the suspects were arrested on Saturday afternoon.

He said the two were arrested when the phone of the deceased was tracked and traced to the suspects.

Isioma added, “The police have recovered the phone from the suspects and the motorbike Omodon rode to the farm on the day she went missing.

“One of the suspects who is a member of the community has confessed that they had killed the girl while being interrogated at the Okpaihe Police Station before the case was transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Benin.”

When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Chidi Nwabuzor, said information concerning the arrest had yet to reach him but promised to get back as soon as he contacted men of the SCID. He had yet to do that as of the time of filing this report on Sunday evening.

Missing Delta varsity female student found dead, two suspects arrested

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NAF airstrikes kill scores of terrorists in Borno, Niger enclaves

Published

10 hours ago

May 6, 2024

Trends Admin

NAF airstrikes kill scores of terrorists in Borno, Niger enclaves

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Sunday said the air components of Operations Hadin Kai and Whirl Punch in the North East and North Central killed many terrorists in airstrikes in Borno and Niger.

The Director, Public Relations and Information, NAF, AVM Edward Gabkwet, disclosed this in a statement.

Gabkwet said the air components had continued to obliterate terrorists and destroy their structures, equipment and mobility, thereby limiting their ability to attack ground troops and innocent Nigerians at will.

He said that in the North East, the air interdiction was on May 3 authorized and conducted over Chinene, a location tucked inside the Mandara Mountain.

He said terrorists had been observed to be emanating from various locations and assembling ostensibly for a meeting.

According to him, seven gun trucks were also observed parked under trees within the same location.

Gabkwet said the aircraft bombarded the assembly area and tree coverings and destroyed their weapons and mobility.

He said that the Battle Damage Assessment revealed that the strikes were successful as several terrorists were neutralised and logistics destroyed.

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He said similar airstrikes were conducted same day by the air component of Operation Whirl Punch in a pre-emptive air strikes over terrorists hibernating at Allawa village, near Shiroro town in Niger.

The NAF spokesman said the mission was conducted following credible intelligence which revealed the migration of terrorists into the village after the mass exit of locals for fear of their safety.

He said the terrorists had, on May 1, stormed the deserted Allawa community in Shiroro Local Government Area and torched the Central Primary School.

“In the evening of the same day, another group of terrorists also arrived at the location, wielding AK-47/49 rifles after invading Galapai village in Galadima Kogo District of Shiroro.

“Accordingly, to prevent further occupation as well as pursue the terrorists from the location, the air component scrambled a formation of its platforms to attack the location.

“On arrival at the location, several terrorists were sighted and engaged effectively.

“Furthermore, following credible intelligence as well as detailed aerial observation, which confirmed the presence of their cache of arms hidden inside Allawa Forest, the air component further carried out air strikes at the location,” he said.

Gabkwet also said that the NAF carried out air strikes North of Arugbana and Temakiri in the Niger Delta, where illegal refining sites were observed and destroyed.

He said through this action, the capabilities of oil thieves to continually sabotage and destroy oil pipelines were minimised.