From Victor Akinkuolie
& Jimoh Ahmed, Owo
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In spite of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, extension of the deadline for the swapping of the old notes till February 10, 2023, customers besieged all the branches of banks in major cities yesterday to exchange old notes for the new ones.
As early as 7.00 am, commercial banks in Ondo State opened for their customers to swap their old notes with redesigned new currencies in compliance with the directive of the Central Bank.
In Akure, the state capital, customers who besieged the banking halls for deposit and cash withdrawals hailed the extension.
While some machines dispensed new notes with large number of customers on queues, others were not.
Reports from Ondo North senatorial district said banks compiled with the CBN directive and opened their doors to Nigerians to enable them swap their old notes for the new ones.
However, bank officials did not turn up until 9.30 am but some of the officials who spoke with our reporter said they did not resume on time because it was not their official working day and also as a result of closing late on Saturday.
In some of the banks visited, there were long queues. It was also found out that those who came for the exercise were given tags before they could be allowed into the banking halls.
Reports reaching us from Oka Akoko, Isua, Ikare, Akungba, and Ifon indicated same story.
Speaking to our reporter, Mr. Sunday Ogunjobi who disclosed that he left his house as early as 6.30 am in order to be attended to early said he was disappointed to see the bank officials coming very late to attend to customers who had waited for long hours.
In the same vein, Mr Ojo Mattew, who said he has been coming to the bank to deposit old notes but with no success, stated that the situation has put untold hardships on the people.
Ojo disclosed that the exercise has caused many families great problems even as house wives were at loggerheads with their husbands over inability to get cash.
Mrs Caroline Chuks, a widow, said she has temporarily closed down her shop for the fact that people were still bringing the old notes.
In the meantime, POS agents are also having an hectic time attending to depositors of the old naira notes.
A POS agent, Monday Ayokunle told The Hope that he had to forgo his church Sunday service to attend to depositors who had besieged his shop.
According to him, all he is doing now is to accept deposits but has not been depositing for the fact that he has not been able to get the new notes.
Meanwhile, all ATM machines in Owo were dispensing the new notes as at the time of filing this report but with long queues waiting to withdraw cash.
Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State capital, witnessed large number of customers who thronged the various commercial banks to deposit their old naira notes.
In some of the commercial banks visited by our correspondent, customers were seen as early as 7: am in an orderly arrangement under a canopy provided by the banks outside the banking hall waiting for the bankers to open for transactions.
At the point of the Automated Teller Machines (ATM) of the banks, customers were seen milling around the scene apparently to withdraw cash.
A security officer of the bank who does not want his name mentioned, said the bank will open for transactions by 10am and close by 3pm.
On the scarcity of the new naira notes in the ATM, the security officer said all denominations were loaded in all the ATMs yesterday, before the close of work, but it was empty before dawn, as customers have withdrawn all.
He gave an assurance that the ATMs will be reloaded as soon as the workers in the bank resume for the daily operations.
Though, as at the time of visiting, customers were seen lamenting that in all the four ATM’s installed in the bank, only one was dispensing N200.
