There have been reports of several businesses across the country that started to reject the old notes due to the January 31 deadline earlier set by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. According to reports, some traders and bike men had started rejecting the older notes in some northern states too.
Following the rush to beat the deadline, most Nigerians followed suit by rejecting the older N1000, N500 and N200 notes until the date was shifted by the CBN to February 10, 2023.
The shift in the deadline date, however, has failed to ameliorate the situation as the masses are still suffering to get the new notes while the banks have continued to lament over the scarcity of these redesigned notes.
According to a report by the DailyPost, most banks in Kaduna have decided to pay customers with the lower N100, and N50 denominations as they complained about the unavailability of the new notes.
A staff of the bank who spoke under anonymity declared “We have not received new currency. But we are now paying our customers N100 and N50 notes especially the ones who are anxious to withdraw money.”
Some of the bank customers, however, rejected the payment wondering why the bank could not pay them with redesigned notes.
A customer said, “I went to the bank to withdraw N100,000, and they insisted on paying me with N50 and N100 notes. Just imagine the bulk of N50 notes that make up of N100,000.”
A Premium Times report also revealed that sources familiar with details of the CBN operation confirmed that the apex bank’s supply of the new notes has been “grossly inadequate, making it difficult for commercial banks to meet customers’ demands”.
The report further added that the banks receive an average of N12 million in some parts of the country, an amount which was grossly inadequate to meet operational demands.