In line with the directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), deposit money banks (DMBs) began dispensing the redesigned naira notes to customers across the country on Thursday, December 15, 2022.
The newly redesigned N1,000, N500 and N200 notes finally became a legal tender over three weeks after the President Muhammadu Buhari, unveiled them at the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.
The CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, on October 26, announced plans to redesign the N200, N500 and N1,000 notes, while also declaring that the old denominations would cease to be a legal tender by January 31, 2022.
Emefiele stressed that the redesigning of the local currency became necessary to tackle inflationary problems, currency counterfeiting, insecurity and other issues plaguing Nigeria, The Punch reports.
He further noted that the currency redesign was aimed at controlling currency-in-circulation as well as ransom payments to kidnappers and terrorists.
Several bank branches had run out of the small quantities of the new notes allocated to them from their head offices as early as 12 noon on Thursday, December 15.
Further findings revealed that several bank branches were yet to get their new note allocations with many bank officials stating that the new notes were still being expected.
In some bank branches in Lagos state, a number of branches had run out of their new note allocations as at 2 pm on Thursday.
However, officials at some of the centres which still had the new notes said that their allocations were very small.
An official of Access Bank Plc at the Ojodu branch in Lagos state, said that, “Each cashier was given N100,000 of the new N1,000 note for onward disbursements to customers seeking over-the-counter payments.
“We don’t have the other denominations of N500 and N200 yet. We don’t have enough supply of the new notes for now.”
Customers in some of these banks were also depositing the old naira notes over the counter, while cashiers were paying out more of the old naira notes at the centre.
However, in a few instances, the cashiers were seen mixing a few new naira notes with the old bills in their over-the-counter (OTC) payments.
Meanwhile, in some of the banking halls, some customers snubbed the new notes due to reports that some local traders were rejecting them as legal tender.
As such, some of the bank customers refused to collect the new notes for OTC payments.
A bank teller, while confirming the situation, on Thursday evening, said that, “Some customers have been rejecting the new naira notes whenever we give them. They said that the new notes would not be collected from them in the market.”
At the bank, a cashier told a customer demanding the new naira notes she had exhausted her allocation.
However, when the customer insisted on having his payment in the new notes, the cashier approached his colleague to demand for some.
In the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, only the Access Bank ATM in Jabi area was seen dispensing new N1,000 and N500 notes.
It was observed that the ATM dispensed N1,000 in every N10,000 withdrawal.
At the counter of the same bank, a bank official said that the new notes were not available.
She said that, “No, you can’t make cash withdrawals of the new notes. The best we can do for you is to mix the amount you are withdrawing with old notes.”
A similar scenario was witnessed at the First Bank and Taj Bank branches in Abuja as officials said that the new notes were not available.
At Taj Bank, an official claimed that the lender was disbursing the new notes to customers over the counter but not at its ATM stand.
However, as of 3:45 pm on Thursday, only old notes were being given to their customers.
Also, during a visit to some banks in the Ikotun-Egbe and Isolo areas of Lagos stare, it was observed that the ATMs were dispensing old notes.
A Point of Sale (POS) terminal operator in Igando area, who simply identified himself as Chibuike, said that he could not get the new notes when he visited his bank earlier in the day.
A bank customer, James Oni, noted that he was anticipating to see the new notes, adding that he could not get it in the banking hall.
Meanwhile, Emefiele, on December 20, will appear before the house of representatives to explain the new cash withdrawals policy of the apex bank.
The house was to grill Emefiele over the policy on Thursday but he failed to appear before the lawmakers.
The deputy governor, corporate services, CBN, Edward Adamu, in a communication to the House, told the lawmakers that Emefiele was part of Buhari’s entourage on an official trip to the United States.
The house, on December 8, summoned Emefiele to come and explain the policy to the parliament.
The resolutions were based on a motion of urgent public importance moved by a member of the house, Aliyu Magaji, while another member, Ibrahim Olanrewaju, raised a point of order urging the chamber to demand suspension of the policy until the lawmakers conclude their investigation, a prayer that was unanimously granted.
Other members of the gouse also alleged that the CBN breached the act establishing the apex bank, especially section 5 and section 8(4), by failing to brief the national assembly before rolling out policies.
They also queried how the CBN funded the redesign of naira notes, alleging a breach of sections 80 and 83 of the 1999 constitution which mandates all government bodies to spend only funds appropriated by the national assembly.
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