By Saheed Ibrahim & Jimoh Ahmed
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Despite the Tuesday January 31, deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria that old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes will cease to be regarded as legal tenders, commercial banks and Automated Teller Machines, (ATMS) are still dispensing old notes.
The Hope reported that the CBN insisted that the redesigned notes must be returned to banks on or before January 31, 2023 despite calls by the National Assembly for extension of the deadline.
Given the deadline, many Nigerians have continued to troop to commercial banks to deposit the old notes.
It was gathered that some traders, transporters and business owners were no longer accepting the old notes.
Buyers were being subjected to serious hardship as they have to look for lower denominations like N100 and N50 even if they want to buy goods worth thousands of naira.
However, their frustration is being heightened as commercial banks and ATMs continue to dispense old naira notes.
The situation has led to a lull in economic and commercial activities as traders complained of low sales.
Many Nigerians were leaving the banks and ATMs with frustration after their efforts to get new notes proved abortive.
Point of Sale (POS) operators are also giving old notes, claiming they could not get new notes from the banks.
The Hope gathered that old notes can be given on the counter in line with the CBN’s directive.
One of the frustrated bank customers lamented “I queued for many hours just to deposit money. Only for the teller to dispense old notes when I made withdrawal.
“I went to many ATMs they were not working.
A visit to some ATM points in Ikare Akoko by our reporter to withdraw some cash was unsuccessful as none of the machines was dispensing cash as at the time of this report.
