By Starrys Obazei | February 13, 2023
starrys@ddnewsonline.com
Fear and confusion gripped Nigerians, especially residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, on Monday morning when banks started rejecting the old N200, N500, and N1000 notes, Daily Post reports.
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 was a result of a Supreme Court interim order, banning the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, from stopping the old notes from being legal tenders.
Though the CBN and the Federal Government are 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 at Abeokuta anonymously said they got directives from the headquarters not to accept the old Naira notes.
“We were accepting the old notes earlier in the morning, but we got directives from our headquarters around 9 a.m. 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.
It was confirmed that some stores in Abeokuta like Foodco, Best Deals, and others stopped accepting the old notes on Thursday.