CITIZENS COMPASS– Commercial banks in Akure, the Ondo State capital, and Abeokuta, Ogun State, have begun rejection of the old Naira notes of N200, N500 and N1000 respectively.
This has brought confusion to many residents especially businessmen and women.
Many customers who went to the banks to deposit were disappointed when the bank officials refused to collect the old notes.
An official of an old generation bank, who spoke on anonymity, said they were acting on instruction from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Other banks visited were the UBA, FCMB, First Bank and Zenith bank.
Some traders in Akure also refused to collect the old notes.
They claimed that banks refused to collect old notes in their possession.
Meanwhile, fear gripped residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, on Monday morning when banks started rejecting the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes.
As of the weekend, residents of Abeokuta were still transacting businesses with the old notes, despite the February 10 deadline of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
This, our correspondent learnt, was as a result of a Supreme Court interim order, banning the CBN from stopping the old notes from being legal tenders.
Though the CBN is yet to react to the court order, many have interpreted the silence of the apex bank to mean acceptance.
But as commercial banks resumed on Monday, people who were to deposit their old notes could not do so as cashiers refused to accept them.
A customer said she could not deposit her N200,000 because her bank rejected the old notes.
With this development, many were seen making calls to their relatives and sales representatives, warning them not to accept the old notes from customers as banks no longer take in deposits with the notes.
A banker, who confided in our correspondent, said they got directives from the headquarters not to deposit the old notes.
“We were accepting the old notes earlier in the morning, but we got directives from our headquarters around 9am that we should no longer accept the old notes. That’s why we stopped,” the banker said.
It was gathered that the commercial banks were rejecting the old notes because the CBN is yet to speak to them about extending the February 10 deadline or obeying the court order.
Meanwhile, traders and other individuals who are still in possession of the old notes have cried out to the CBN, asking that they be allowed to swap their hard-earned money.
Our correspondent confirmed that some stores in Abeokuta like Foodco, Best Deals and others stopped accepting the old notes since Thursday, February 9, 2023.
