Despite the extension of the deadline for the old naira notes in circulation by the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigerians are still grappling with the burden of getting the new notes, which are not available.
ThisNigeria checks reveal that the new notes in circulation fall short of the demand by the customers, and as such created so much tension among Nigerians who find it pretty difficult to cope with the non-availability of the new notes either at the bank or PoS outlets.
A visit by our correspondents yesterday to some commercial banks in mainland parts of Lagos showed that most of the ATMs had no money to dispense to the customers, thus causing more agony for the customers who could not meet up with their financial obligation.
This ugly development put the customers at the mercy of the few PoS operators that had money, who capitalised on the situation to oppress the poor Nigerians by charging an exorbitant commission. For instance, charging N1000 on N10,000 transaction.
In other places, many customers waited endlessly with the hope that the bank officials could reload their ATMs with the new notes.
Most of the customers who spoke with our correspondents at the Ifako Gbagada area of Lagos, which had Providence Bank, Zenith Bank, Access Bank, First Bank, Ecobank, and Stanbic IBTC Bank, noted that the ATMs were not dispensing the new naira notes. A police guard at one of the banks, who spoke on anonymity revealed that the ATMs of the commercial banks in the area stopped dispensing because the banks ran out of the new naira notes.
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At the Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank), a subsidiary of Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), both in Ikoyi and Ifako Gbagada branches in Lagos, customers were seen making frantic efforts to withdraw from the banks’ Automated Teller Machines (ATM) which were the only ones dispensing the newly redesigned naira notes.
However, customers had to wait in long queues as many of the ATMs that were supposed to dispense cash were either temporarily out of service, or with insufficient cash.
For instance, at the Obalende branch of the bank, out of about seven machines in stalled to dispense, none was active, making customers loiter around the baking premises without any hope of getting money for their transaction.
On inquiry as to why the machines were not loaded with cash, some bank officials, who wished to be anonymous, said they
had a limited quantity of the new notes at their disposal, and since the few ones had been withdrawn, they would have to wait till more supply came from their head office.
Many customers were, however, disillusioned and expressed their frustration owing to their inability to get the new notes.
Meanwhile, at the meeting held yesterday between the House of Representatives ad hoc committee with the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele assured that the old naira notes would still be in circulation after the February 10 deadline.
The House Reps committee had earlier expressed concern about the implementation of the policy and sought more clarification from the Central Bank Governor.
However, the CBN Governor said he agrees with section 20(3) of the CBN Act, which provides that commercial banks must accept old notes after a deadline.
Section 20 (3) of the Act says: “Notwithstanding Sub-sections (1) and (2) of this section, the Bank shall have power, if directed to do so by the President and after giving reasonable notice in that behalf, to call in any of its notes or coins on payment of the face value thereof and any note or coin with respect to which a notice has been given under this Sub-section, shall, on the expiration of the notice, cease to be legal tender, but, subject to section 22 of this Act, shall be redeemed by the Bank upon demand.”
The apex bank boss said commercial banks must accept the money even after the 10 February deadline.
Although Emefiele had on Sunday announced 17 February as the “grace period” for the Nigerians to deposit the money, the lawmakers are insisting that it must be months, not days.
Emefiele further assured the lawmakers that Nigerians will not lose their cash due to the new policy. He explained that the CBN is taking several measures to ensure proper circulation of the new cash.
“We deployed all our staff, we effectively shut down Abuja, shut down Lagos. We said all staff, go to your locality.
“In the last three and half weeks, they have been in villages they take cash, even when the banks were lackadaisical about it. They take cash from the CBN and do cash exchange for everybody. They do five million naira cash lodgement back to the CBN,” he said.
He added that the CBN will work with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).
