…Cash circulation still short of demand, mixed experience for Nigerians
…Stakeholders task CBN to stabilise economy
By Seun Ibiyemi, Olumide David, Mathew Dennis, Ismail Azeez
As the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) declared old Naira notes of N200, N500, N1,000 remain legal tender following the Supreme Court order, economic activities began to record a push, as Nigerians on Tuesday stormed different commercial banks across the Country for withdrawal of cash to kick off suspended businesses.
The CBN had approved the circulation of old N500 and N1,000 notes as legal tender till December 31, 2023 as stipulated by the Supreme Court.
The apex bank’s Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Isa AbdulMum made the confirmation in statement issued on Monday night.
“In compliance with the established tradition of obedience to court orders and sustenance of the Rule of Law Principle that characterised the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, and by extension, the operations of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as a regulator, Deposit Money Banks operating in Nigeria have been directed to comply with the Supreme Court ruling of March 3, 2023.
“Accordingly, the CBN met with the Bankers’ Committee and has directed that the old N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes remain legal tender alongside the redesigned banknotes till December 31, 2023.
“Consequently, all concerned are directed to conform accordingly,” the statement added.
However, many commercial banks’ gates were full before 8:00am Tuesday morning, with customers optimistic that their sufferings have come to an end.
Investigation by our correspondent revealed that several bank halls were filled up with customers filling withdrawal forms to obtain cash.
Upon visits to Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in Ogun State, Abuja, Lagos and others, bank customers were seen on queues to withdraw cash.
Findings also revealed that banks did not impose any withdrawal limits as had been the case before now and their ATM machines were also fully loaded with the old notes.
Speaking to Nigerian NewsDirect at Fidelity Ogba, Lagos, Miss Damilola Olaoye said “the banking hall and ATMs dispensed 5,000 Naira old notes for the bank customers, while non Fidelity bank customers are given N1,000 Naira notes.”
Miss Mary Akinola tweeted on Tuesday, “I don’t think everything is going back to ‘normal’ anytime soon cos queue at Gtbank this morning is reaching 510 in number and they are only giving 4k old notes via the counter.”
NewsDirect also observed that while traders and residents have fully complied to transact with the old Naira notes, some banks are yet to start dispensing both the old and new Naira notes.
A bank official, who preferred anonymity, claimed that they do not have both the old and new Naira notes in their custody to dispense to customers.
“We do not have money to give our customers that is why we are not paying cash.
“We are hopeful that we will get money from the CBN, following the directive,” the official said.
A bank customer, Mrs Gift Amomo, expressed worry, saying that the cash crunch still persisted, in spite of the CBN’s directive on the recirculation of the old Naira notes and willingness of the public to accept it.
Amono said, “I just entered the bank but I was told that there was no cash. Both the old and new Naira notes were not available for us to collect.”
A PoS operator at Isolo, Mrs Funmi Gbadamosi, said that she was yet to be able to collect cash from banks to facilitate her business, but had started collecting the old notes as directed.
Gbadamosi said, “There are still so many queues at the banks and many of the banks were not paying yet.
“Although, we have started collecting the old Naira notes, we are yet to get them easily from the banks.”
The scene survey at Wuse area of Abuja on Tuesday indicated that there were queues of bank customers across Polaris banks, First Bank, the United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Guarantee Trust Bank, among others.
Specifically, at UBA in Wuse, customers were given numbers and our correspondent who visited the location 11am was given number 17 which stretched to number 81 at the time of this report.
Some of the customers, who were seen in long queues decried the failure of the banks to provide Naira notes, either new or old.
It was observed that ATM machines were not functioning as they were deserted.
“There is no cash and there is no network for bank to bank transactions,” an official of the bank disclosed.
Customers also besieged various commercial banks in the ancient city of Kaduna to either get the new Naira notes or deposit the old notes.
One Mrs. Godiya Amos who said she stood at the First Bank gate since 6:00am Tuesday morning, said she was sure of going home with money.
On his part, Mr. Haruna Bilyup who banks with the United Bank for Africa, said his bank would not have any excuses to give.
“It’s either they give me new notes, or old currency,” he said.
Mikitan Abraham, a Zenith Bank customer, expressed confidence that the “bank has no excuses today,” because the old currency received can easily be disbursed to customers.
One of the account officer, Kayode Yusuf an account officer at First Bank stressed that the Bank has no money to pay customers, adding that all the old notes were taken to the CBN.
He said, “As I am speaking with you now, the bank has no dime to pay to its customers. We are all depending on the CBN to give us money. It could be old or new, depending on the available currency.”
Several attempts to speak to the Manager proved abortive as he declined to speak on the development.
Meanwhile, residents of Edo State, including traders and commercial drivers have started accepting the old N500 and N1,000 banknotes following the CBN’s confirmation that the notes will remain legal tender alongside the redesigned banknotes till December 31, 2023, in line with the ruling of the Supreme Court.
However, there is still shortage of cash, as most of the banks visited by our correspondent across Benin metropolis, on Tuesday, did not dispense cash either from the ATMs or the counter, despite being besieged by crowds of customers who hoped to make withdrawals.
It was observed from our reporter that a few banks paid their customers N10,000 old notes at the counter, while some new generation banks told their customers there was no cash.
The banks, however, attended to customers with complaints bordering on other issues.
A bank customer, Moses Osariyie, commended the apex’s bank for complying with the court’s directive, but pointed out that the delay had further affected the masses and brought unprecedented hardship on the people as most banks do not still have cash to pay their customers.
“This is the second bank I am visiting today (Tuesday). I was at their branches at Airport road and Agbor road, but none paid me. People are now aware of the directive to accept the old notes but the issue is that banks say they do not have cash. This should not have gotten to this extent if only our government listened to the yearnings of the masses,” he said.
In further checks by our correspondent, it was noted that traders and drivers in Benin City stated that since the apex bank has openly complied with the court’s verdict, they have no choice but to accept the old notes.
They called on the authorities to disburse more of the old Naira notes to complement the redesigned banknotes and embark on more public enlightenment in remote areas.
In Osogbo, Osun state capital, on Tuesday Banks issued old notes to their numerous customers.
Our correspondent who monitored the level of compliance by commercial banks and traders in osogbo, on Tuesday saw many customers coming out with old Naira notes from the banks.
Mrs Grace Akintade who was just coming out from a Union bank located at the popular Aregbe area of Osogbo said she was paid with N20,000 old notes, adding that the bank officials have complied with the Apex bank order and directive.
She explained that, the old notes are now available as most PoS operators in Osogbo now have the old notes, saying there is great relief for people at the moment.
According to her “Immediately I collected it, I went to the market to buy food stuff and they collected the money from me.”
Also speaking, Mr Aina Olotu who echoed a similar view hinted that, he just entered GTBank and discovered that they were paying customers N10,000 and N5,000 respectively.
He disclosed that, before the week runs out everything will normalise, though he carpeted the CBN and the Federal Government for having waited too long in obeying the court order.
He, however, said some customers who went to the banks like Access Bank were neither attended to, nor got money from the bank, adding that Nigerians have being going through pains in getting their hard earned money .
Ex-ANAN president tasks CBN to stabilise economy
Former President, Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), Dr Samuel Nzekwe, has advised the CBN to make concerted effort to stabilise the economy.
This, he said, would restore people‘s confidence into the economy as they complied with the Supreme Court judgment on the old Naira notes.
Nzekwe gave the advice while speaking with journalists on Tuesday in Ota, Ogun.
The former ANAN President said that it was a must for the apex bank and the Federal Government to obey the Supreme Court judgment as the economy had been adversely affected by the cash crunch.
He stressed the need to stabilise the economy as many Nigerians would be going to the Deposit Money Banks to make withdrawals rather than saving, which is not good for the banks.
“The CBN need to work very hard to restore the confidence of Nigerians which had been eroded by the action of the regulators,” he said.
Nzekwe noted that the apex bank meant well regarding the redesigned notes, but it was in the implementation that they got it wrong.
He alleged that Deposit Money Banks also contributed to the poor implementation of the policy as they give their money to their most preferred customers while leaving the masses to suffer.
Nzekwe lamented that there was no cash in circulation as most of the money transferred were not going and malfunctioning, while most Automatic Tellers Machines (ATMs) were not dispensing.
He emphasised that CBN needs to intensify public enlightenment campaign so that people would not think that the economy has totally collapsed.
Nzekwe said that cash crunch had virtually affected all sectors of the economy, adding that there is the need to pump more money into circulation.
Nzekwe, however, noted that one thing that had been achieved through the policy was that more people had embraced the financial inclusion.