CBN directive: Shop owners, transporters still skeptical about old naira notes

 

 .Mixed reactions trail order on old currency in Kwara

.Business operators in Edo happy with CBN’s compliance with Court judgment

 

COMFORT EKELEME, Business Editor

Although the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to obey the supreme court ruling on the old naira notes, some shop owners are still skeptical about collecting the old notes.

While some residents in Lagos are collecting the notes, shop owners who were making huge sales via Point of Sales (PoS) are still rejecting the old  N500 and N1,000 banknotes for transactions.

CBN in a statement signed by its acting Director of Corporate Communications, Mr. Isa AbdulMumin, on Monday directed the commercial banks to comply with the Supreme Court judgment of March 3.

CBN said: “Accordingly, the CBN met with the Bankers’ Committee and directed that the old N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes remain a legal tender alongside the redesigned banknotes till Dec. 31.

“Consequently, all concerned are directed to conform accordingly.

Daily Champion investigations, however, revealed that some commercial banks were issuing the old notes while some filling stations have started accepting the old Naira notes and also giving it as change.

Also, it was gathered that some banks are yet to start dispensing both the old and new naira notes via the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and inside the banking hall.

Customers were seen in large numbers at the entrance of some of the commercial banks visited around Ikeja, Oshodi, and other areas of the state with the hope to get cash.

A bank official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity disclosed that they do not have both the old and new naira notes in their vault to dispense to customers

“We are hopeful that we will get money from the CBN, following the directive,” the official said.

While expressing worry over the lingering cash scarcity, a business man Mr. Mike Igwe told Daily Champion that the suffering still persists despite CBN’s directive to banks.

Another Bank customer who spoke on the condition of anonymity maintained that there is need for the regulators and the federal government to find a lasting solution to this situation, adding that Nigerians are really suffering.

Our source 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.

Mr. Christian Friday, a patent drug store owner, said if the old notes had not been destroyed as insinuated in some quarters, the apex bank should ensure that the banks comply in totality.

“Is it that CBN didn’t confiscate the notes and they were not also burnt as people say?

“If this was not the case, then why did it take the banks so long to accept this?

“All the same, CBN should make the money available to banks and put strict measures in place to ensure that they pay and also collect it back when customers come to deposit,” he said.

However, Residents of Ilorin, Kwara State capital on Tuesday reacted variously to the Monday directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) asking commercial banks to receive and dispense the old N200, 500, and N1,000 notes.

While the majority of the residents described the directive as a good development, others said it will only impact positively if effective and vigorous sensitization and public enlightenment campaigns are carried out by the CBN to restore the confidence of the people who have been traumatized by the naira crisis.

Despite the CBN announcement, traders, transporters, and fuel stations in Ilorin are still adamant, even as FCMB and Access banks in the state capital have started to receive and dispense the old banknotes as directed by the apex bank.

Musa Ayinla, a lawyer told DAILY POST the situation will improve if commercial banks dispense enough of the old notes to cushion the effects of the hardship Nigerians have gone through over the naira scarcity.

He further complained that Point of Sale (PoS) operators are not helping the situation with the exorbitant charges they impose on cash withdrawals by customers.

A retired civil servant, Shola Adeshina, who also described the announcement as a positive development, urged banks to make the old naira notes available if there are not enough new notes for circulation.

He particularly sympathised with the people in rural areas where there are no banking services, wondering about the negative effect of the crisis on their rural economy.

A beef vendor, Mama Aishat, complained that despite the announcement by the CBN, they find it difficult to buy cows with the old naira notes from Fulani cattle dealers, who also refuse to accept bank transfers.

Also, Traders in Benin have expressed happiness over CBN’s compliance with the Supreme Court judgment that the old N500 and N1,000 notes remain legal tender till Dec. 31.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Supreme Court, on March 3, in a unanimous decision by a seven-member panel of Justices, held that the old N500 and N1000 should remain legal tender till Dec. 31.

However, the CBN didn’t issue a directive to banks to the effect until Monday, 10 days after the Supreme Court judgment.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) checks at different banks, markets, motor parks, supermarkets, and pharmacies, and observed that the old N500 and N1,000 were being accepted by traders and businessmen as legal tender.

However, there were long queues at the commercial banks.

Speaking on the development, Dr. Okwara Udensi, Edo/Delta Chairman, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, told NAN that CBN’s compliance with the court ruling was a welcome development for businessmen.

Udensi said “It is a good thing because it is going to ease a lot of the cash problems as everyone would begin to heave a sigh of relief.

“The issue of using cash to buy cash will be a thing of the past as my worker had to spend N22,500 to collect N150,000 few weeks ago.

“This is good, let us pray that the cash will start circulating around and things will bounce back to normal by end of the month.”

Also reacting, Mr. Noma Iguisi, Edo Chairman, of the National Association of Small Scale Industrialists said, ” the CBN has listened to us and this will impact positively our businesses.”

Iguisi, however, suggested that the CBN should print enough quantity of the redesigned Naira notes before phasing out the old ones.

According to him, the time frame should be such that it will be enough to print more of the redesigned Naira notes before they can recall the old notes.

“The deficit was too much, you are removing about N2 trillion old notes from circulation and replacing them with about N400 billion.”

Miss Miracle Edosa, a trader at Ikpoba Hill Market, told NAN that she had started accepting the old N500 and N1,000 notes for business transactions.

Edosa said, “traders around me are collecting and I am collecting too.

“I learnt that some people are not accepting the old money. My prayer is that everyone accepts the money as legal tender to make things easy in the country.