Most banks still ain’t paying old naira, await CBN directive
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Some banks have begun partial compliance with the Supreme Court order extending the use of old N1,000 and N500 and N200 notes as legal tenders until December 31.
The top court ruled on March 3 old naira notes should circulate alongside new ones for another 10 months but said the redesign policy contravened the Constitution.
Neither President Muhammadu Buhari nor Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele has provided an update since the judgment, but some banks are partially complying with it, according to investigation by The PUNCH in Lagos, Abuja, and other cities.
Both the CBN and the office of the Attorney General of the Federation refused to obey a previous Supreme Court order on February 8 which nullified the February 10 deadline to swap old naira notes for new ones.
Several United Bank for Africa (UBA) and GTbank branches in Lagos and Abuja paid customers old N1,000 and N500 notes on Monday.
But some others – among them First Bank, FCMB, Polaris Bank, and Access Bank – refused to pay their customers, saying they were awaiting directive from the CBN.
“No clear official directive from CBN yet but we have to go ahead because customers are suffering. Also, the Supreme Court has ruled on it,’’ a top official of a tier-1 bank told The PUNCH on condition of anonymity.
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Banks around Lagos
Customers withdrew N500 notes from GTBank tellers at the branch in the Olowoira area. But some customers refused to collect old notes for fear that traders may not accept them, according to reporting by The PUNCH.
“I came here very early and I was given [queue] number 208. I had to leave and come back and now I am still on the queue; I was expecting the queue would have stopped but it is still there, though not as long as it was before,” recounted a customer who identified himself simply as Banjamin.
“The annoying thing now is that they are giving only the old N500 and N1,000 notes and I am not sure traders will accept the old notes from me.”
Others complained about the non-availability of both old and new notes in the automated teller machines (ATMs) of banks.
A customer who came out of the GTBank branch in Ojodu Berger said: “I was here last week and the ATMs dispensed new notes, even though I had to stay on a long queue to get to my turn. But now, you can see, all their ATMs are dry. None is dispensing money.”
At Polaris Bank in Olowoira, customers stayed on the queue and refused to leave even after officials said the bank had closed for the day at 2pm.
“We don’t have the new and old notes to give anybody. We opened at 8am and closed at 2pm, and all we did was to attend to complaints, transfers and enquiries. All these people still standing outside are on their own because we are not attending to anybody today again,” one of the officials said.
The banks on Ogunnusi Road in Ojodu did not pay out cash. They include First Bank, Zenith Bank, Access Bank, Diamond Bank, and UBA.