Many Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in Lagos and Kano states did not dispense the new naira notes on Monday, leaving bank customers disappointed.
The new naira became a legal tender on December 15, 2022 after it was unveiled by President Muhammadu Buhari on November 23, 2022 in Abuja.
The Central Bank of Nigeria had in October announced the redesign, production, release, and circulation of a new series of three banknotes out of the existing eight banknotes, comprising N200, N500, and N1000 denominations.
Our correspondents observed that all the ATM machines they went to on Monday were dispensing only the old notes. At one of the banks, customers who wanted the new naira notes were asked to withdraw over the counter as there was none in the ATMs.
“If you want new naira, go inside and meet the cashier,” a security offer told a customer who wanted to withdraw the new naira from the ATM.
Read also: Banks ration new naira notes, await more supply
When contacted, Osita Nwanisobi, director, corporate communications department of the CBN, said the CBN never said once the distribution of the new naira began, every ATM will dispense the new notes.
Speaking with BusinessDay by phone, he said the new naira policy has two objectives to achieve. “One is to bring the currency outside the bank into the banking system and to promote other means of payment. Distribution of the new naira is a process and it is ongoing,” he said.
BusinessDay findings show that the supply of the new naira from the CBN to banks is low.
Our correspondents visited various markets in Ketu, Ikorodu and Mile 12 – West Africa’s biggest market for perishable commodities – and found that most of the transactions were being done in old naira notes.
“Buyers are not making purchases with the new naira notes because it is still not available even in banks,” said Busayo Oladejo, a trader at Mile 12 Market. “I have even been looking for the new notes and visiting several ATM machines for it but none is dispensing.”
Bilikisu Yusuf, a yam seller at Mile 12 Market, said he had received some new notes.
“I have sold over N400,000 today but only got payment of N5,000 with the new notes,” he said.
Also, contrary to the viral videos in circulation that people were not accepting the new naira notes, traders in Ketu, Mile 12 and Ikorodu said they were looking forward to accepting them.
“None of my customers have purchased from me with the new naira notes. I will gladly accept it if payments are made with it. I am even asking customers to make purchases with the new notes but they are saying they don’t have it yet,” Sherifat Adeola, a provision seller at Ikorodu Market, said.
“I got the new naira note from money changers at the club and took it to the market, however, the market woman rejected it for the fear that it might be fake,” one customer said.
“On my way to the island on Saturday, I paid using the new naira note to the bus conductor, who accepted, but noticed that a lot of passengers on the bus were rejecting the new naira notes and accepting the old notes. The new N1,000 note was also sprayed at the wedding I attended on Saturday,” said another customer.
In Kano, northern Nigeria’s biggest economy, our correspondent observed that many customers were at several banks in hopes that they would get the new naira notes, but went home disappointed.
” I was expecting to get my withdrawal in the new naira notes, based on the information provided by the CBN, but surprised when I was paid in the old notes,”, Kennedy Madu, who sells vehicle spare parts in the Sabon Gari Downtown area of the Kano metropolis, said.
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