Cash still scarce as banks await CBN supply

Nigerians who believed that cash crunch had ended following the directive from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) remained disappointed on Tuesday and the morning of Wednesday as commercial banks continued to ration banknotes.

Most banks told customers that nothing had changed as they were still waiting supply from the CBN.

Ripples Nigeria visited some banks in Lagos and found that long queues were still prominent and customers were still writing their names according to their arrival time and getting tally numbers.

“We have been paying the cash in our vault before and it is exhausted. We will get more cash from the CBN,” a bank official told a customer at Ikotun.

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At Ago Palace, Clifford Ogu, a clearing agent, said he stood for hours at a bank branch waiting to withdraw cash but was disappointed as there was no cash in the bank.

Also, Bamidele Adeniyi, a mechanic at Owode Market in Mile 12, Lagos, said the directive by the apex bank had brought relief to the people, adding that scarcity would persist owing to shortfall in the supply of the old N500 and N1,000 notes.

“My worry now is where would CBN get the old notes to supply banks since they have destroyed the ones in their possession?” he asked.

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