The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is yet to release the old N1000 and N500 notes it mopped out of circulation despite asking commercial banks to commence their recirculation, findings by Daily Trust have revealed.
This is amid the struggle by commercial banks to meet the increasing demands of customers who besiege their branches across the states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Traders, artisans, PoS operators, and students, among others, who visited bank branches, said they were disappointed as they could not withdraw the amounts they wanted.
Those who spoke to our correspondents said they were only given between N5,000 and N10,000 while a few others managed to get N20,000
The CBN said Monday in a statement by its spokesman, Isa AbdulMumin, that deposit money banks operating in the country have been directed to comply with the Supreme Court ruling of March 3 which said the old N1,000, N500 and N200 remain legal tender until December 31.
The CBN’s statement came a few hours after a statement from Aso Villa quoting President Muhammadu Buhari as saying he did not direct the CBN and the Attorney-General of the Federation not to comply with the Supreme Court judgement.
Same old problem
Checks by our reporters yesterday indicated that the CBN was not releasing the old notes it has already mopped out of circulation.
A senior management staff of Guarantee Trust Bank said: “We are not receiving any old cash from the CBN. I have a substantial stock of the old notes and that is what we are recirculating as of today.”
The source explained that most commercial banks had retained the old notes in the days leading up to the February 10 deadline, before the Supreme Court order truncated the initial timeline by the CBN.
“We had that cash with us, and when the CBN became overwhelmed with those rushing to beat the deadline, they also directed them to the commercial banks, so we have that stock too. That is the reserve that we have built up.”
Also, a management staff of Polaris Bank who spoke to our reporter on condition of anonymity said, “We have not received the old notes largely because we have not finished dispensing our old naira stock.
“The instruction we have is to dispense every note at our disposal. We will get a clear understanding of things when we exhaust what we have.”
Banks comply with directive to disburse old N1000, N500
In Kaduna, Abuja, and Kano, our correspondents report that some banks, including Sterling, GTB, First Bank, United Bank of Africa (UBA) and Access Bank were yesterday dispensing the old N500 notes to their customers following the directive by the CBN.
A customer at Sterling Bank who simply identified herself as Mrs Gabriel, said, “I collected N20,000 old N500 notes from my bank today. I am so happy because I have not seen this kind of money for weeks.”
The automated teller machines of most banks in Lagos were seen dispensing cash.
Although most of the banks were still rationing the available cash in order to meet the needs of their customers, there was a clear improvement from the chaos of previous weeks.
At Polaris Bank, Iju, customers were given N10, 000 each instead of the stipulated N20,000.
Our correspondents, who visited two branches of Unity Bank in Bwari and the Central Business District in Abuja, confirmed that they withdrew N5,000 and N10,000, respectively.
The Head of Corporate Communication at Unity Bank, Matthew Obiazikwor, confirmed that the bank had fully complied with the directive of the CBN.
“We are giving out cash to our customers. We have fully complied with the directive. Our ATMs are also loaded. However, there is still the limitation of daily withdrawal,” he said.
Nigerians decry rejection of old notes by traders, transporters
Some transporters and traders yesterday rejected the old N500 and N1,000 bank notes despite the directive from the CBN that the old notes remain legal tender till December 31 in accordance with the judgment of the Supreme Court.
In Kaduna, many traders were still sceptical of collecting the old notes. Most of them said they were studying the situation to see if the policy will be reversed.
“I cannot collect it until Buhari (President) tells us to start collecting it,” a yam seller, Muhammad Isah, said.
However, Daily Trust learned that market leaders in Lagos have started sensitizing their members to collect the old notes in line with the directives of the CBN. Leaders from major markets were at Alausa yesterday.
“I have informed my people, and I will repeat the same tomorrow. We have told them to accept the old notes from customers,” the Iyaloja of Asejere Market, Makoko, Alhaja Kasarat Adebayo, said.
Credit: DailyTrust
