From Uche Usim, Fred Ezeh, Adanna Nnamani, Okwe Obi and Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja
Apprehension over the scarcity of the redesigned naira notes worsened on Monday as various banks insisted they have run out tof stock and were awaiting to be restocked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Many anxious depositors who could not get the new notes last week and were asked to come for it yesterday (Monday) still had their hopes dashed as teller clerks to dispensed the old notes billed to expire on January 31, 2023. The same scenario was recorded at various Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).
Many Point of Sales operator told Daily Sun said they do not know what the new currency looks and feels like.
At the Fidelity Bank ATM machines in Karu, Abuja, many depositors who thought they could get the new naira notes were utterly disappointed.
A customer, Cecelia Ude, who said she was at the ATM before 10am on Sunday was surprised to see old notes gushing out from the machine. “Today being Monday, I am seeing old notes still being dispensed, meaning that the banks are still loading the old notes into turn ATMs and the new limits have not been set. “I have this strong feeling that the banks are having challenges accessing the new Naira note from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). I thought the new notes would have flooded the markets by now, but the reverse seems to be the case, although the deadline is not yet here but very close. I don’t want old notes stranded on my palms.”
At Ecobank Nyanya, some bank officials who pleaded anonymity said the new naira notes were obviously insufficient to meet customer demand. But they were optimistic that with the deadline fast approaching, the CBN might be forced to quicken actions to ensure the new naira notes are made available for people to access through the banking system. An official explained that CBN, perhaps, is not in a hurry to push out huge amount of the new notes. It is also obvious that they are strictly monitoring the disbursement of the new notes for easy tracking.
The staff said: “You know the reason CBN gave for the redesign of the currency was because of huge funds that are outside the banking system. I think CBN want to make sure that the objective of the redesign was not defeated. Besides, election is around the corner and politicians might like to amass huge cash for either vote-buying or other unacceptable activities.”
Abubakar Mohammed, a POS operator at Wuse zone 3, Abuja, said he accessed the new notes last week from a nearby Zenith Bank.
“But on Monday, when I visited the bank to inquire if I could get more of the new notes for my customers, the bank officials said they don’t have any for customers yet.”
Meanwhile, Muruf Ola, a motor mechanic at Nyanya, Abuja, said one of his customer paid for services with the new Naira note, precisely N1,000. And he has not spent the money because many people are yet to get acquainted with the note, hence they don’t collect it.
When Daily Sun visited Fidelity and Access bank branches at the Wuse market around 2pm on Monday, their ATMs were all dispensing the old notes. The same was not different at the banking halls.
Mr Adelani Adeleke, a civil servant said banks were seriously rationing the new currency.
“For instance, if you want to withdraw N5,000, they will give you N4,000 old notes and N1,000 new notes.
A driver, Audu Isah said “I have seen all the new notes. Some passengers paid me with them. But I don’t like the money at all. They only changed the colour. I prefer the old currency.
“I was even reluctant to collect the money from a passenger because of fear of being given the fake note. I have heard and read stories where this fake new Naira notes were given to someone, and the person had to realize the differences after the customer had left. This left him with big loses.”
Oge Emmanuel, a trader at Garki modern market, explained how she rejected the new notes when a customer paid with it.
Emmanuel said: “I only accept old notes for now. In fact, a customer came with the 1000 denomination to buy things in my shop I rejected it because most people that I know are still spending the old notes.
“After much persuasion I accepted because I know the customers. The day I discover that the money is fake, I will hold him.”
However, a source at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), told Daily Sun that the activities concerning the new notes were being closely monitored by the banking supervision department of the apex bank.
He also assured that the CBN has designed a strategic reticulation format to ensure the new notes get to all nooks and crannies of the country. There is enough cash to go round but that does not mean we will have trillions of naira in circulation.
“Remember where we are coming from. Out of N3.2 trillion in circulation, N2.7 trillion was outside the banks. That can’t happen again. We’re going cashless and so many of the transactions should be done electronically. We need to monitor and track the money and those spending it. We need to safeguard our country. Criminals using cash in their hands to wreak havoc are part can cry all they want. This is for the good of the country. Kenya started this cashless policy a long time ago. We are just playing catch-up.
“That said, we are monitoring developments. We are dealing with logistics challenges and things are going on as planned. We anticipated all that is going on because it’s a new development but soon, everything will normalise. Nothing is cast on stone and where we need to tweak things, we will”, he said.
Before now, the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, said more and more countries that are embracing digitization have gone cashless, adding that new development was not targeted at anybody.
“It’s just meant for the good and development of the Nigerian economy and we can only continue to appeal to Nigerians to please see this policy the way we have presented it. We will be reviewing from time to time how this is working because I cannot say that we are going to be rigid. But it is not to say that we will reverse it; it is not to say that we will change the timing, but whether it is about tweaking some amount to be a little bit higher or a little bit lower, and all the rest of them, we will do so because we are humans.
“We want to make sure that we are making life good for our people. We do not want to make life difficult for them. So there is no need for anybody to worry, the Central Bank is monitoring what is happening and I can assure everyone that we are up and alive to our responsibilities and we will do what is right for Nigeria and Nigerians”, he assured.