Banks pay customers in old naira notes, but scarcity persists

Nigerian banks have started paying customers with old naira notes over the counter and via Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) prompting a sense of relief among many citizens.

The move came after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued a directive for banks to fully comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling, which extended the validity of old N200, N500, and N1000 notes until December 31, 2023.

However, many banks could not satisfy their customers due to limited cash in the vault.

Several branches visited in Lagos, including those on Airport Road, Ikotun, Ojota, Ketu and Ikorodu had no cash available.

Most banks, as expected, have returned the old naira notes collected from customers in the last few months to the CBN.

READ ALSO:CBN finally obeys Supreme Court’s order on old naira notes, says old currency remain valid till December 31

Due to the limited cash availability, many banks have restricted over-the-counter payments to N20,000 and allowed only one-time ATM withdrawals of N10,000.

A Zenith Bank customer who identified herself simply as Damilola said.

“At Guaranty Trust Bank the bank’s ATMs dispensed N10,000 old notes for the bank customers while others who do not have a GTB account are given N1,000.”

A Twitter user, with the handle @MaryAkinola also said:

“I don’t think everything is going back to “normal” anytime soon because queue at Gtbank this morning is reaching 510 in number and they are only giving 4k old notes via the counter.

“No ATM [is] dispensing! I think this is more than a naira redesign! Why can’t they pay more than 4,000?”

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now