Nigerians were still struggling to get cash on Monday despite the Supreme Court’s ruling, even as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) remained silent on the matter.
The Supreme Court had on Friday ruled that the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes should remain legal tender until December 31, 2023.
Many analysts and industry watchers had expected the CBN to make a statement after the judgment but this had yet to happen as of the time filing this report.
Nigerians throng the bank branches on Monday trying to withdraw their money but many of the banks said there was no cash.
However, some banks on Monday, though cautious, paid some customers with old N500 and N1,000 notes. Sterling Bank and Access Bank at Iyana Ipaja, in Lagos, dispensed old N500, and N1,000 on Monday.
“My account officer told me not to collect old naira notes because they have not received any directive from the CBN,” Itoro John, a small business operator, told BusinessDay on Monday.
Some bank officials who spoke with BusinessDay confirmed that they had not received any directive from the apex bank.
An effort to get comments from the CBN on Monday was not fruitful as its spokesperson did not respond to calls.
Felicia Agbola, a caterer, told BusinessDay that she went to Oyingbo and Ijora markets with the old N500 and N1,000 notes but traders refused to accept it despite the Supreme Court ruling.
“The traders are not collecting the old N500 and N1,000 notes because banks have not given them the old notes,” she said.
Also, BusinessDay surveyed several banks around Obalende and Ikoyi, Lagos to check if money deposit banks have commenced dispensing the old N500 and N1,000 notes based on the Supreme Court ruling.
“We are not paying today because we do not have any cash,” said Bisi Ademola, a bank official. She said the branch was yet to receive any directive from its headquarters on the old N500 and N1,000 notes.
In Abuja, about three banks were seen paying customers with the old N500 and N1,000 notes during the day on Monday.
Read also: Cash shortages lead to sharp decline in business activity – report
“At Owode-Mile 12, Lagos, one of the bank branches paid old N500 notes today in the afternoon. I withdrew N5,000 and went to Mile 12 Market to buy goods but nobody accepted the money from me,” Eniola Lawal, a food provision seller at Ketu, Lagos, told BusinessDay.
“I told them that it is now a legal tender based on a Supreme Court ruling but they still did not accept the money from me,” she said, urging the government and CBN to obey the Supreme Court ruling.
“The CBN currency redesign policy inflicted indescribable agony, suffering and distress on the majority of Nigerian citizens,” said Muda Yusuf, chief executive officer the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise.
He said the trouble was not with the redesign, but “the deliberate and unrestrained mopping up of cash in the economy”.
“To date, the CBN had mopped up about N2 trillion cash from the economy, thereby paralysing the retail sector, crippling the informal economy, stifling the agricultural value chain, immobilising the transportation sector and disrupting the payment system in the economy,” he said.
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