Most commercial banks continued the payment of the old naira notes to their customers yesterday, this is in spite of the failure of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to issue a formal directive to that effect.
The Supreme Court had had in a unanimous decision held that the directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to the CBN for the redesigning and withdrawal of old notes of N200, N500 and N1,000, without consultation with the states, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and the National Council of State and other stakeholders, was unconstitutional.
The apex court observed that no reasonable notice was given before the implementation of the policy as provided under the CBN Act.
A CBN source, who volunteered information on the matter, said there was no information to add or refute on the current scarcity of the naira at the banks.
However, most of the bank customers who got paid met a brick wall in the open market as the old notes they received were rejected.
According to THE NATION, the states where some bank branches paid old notes are Oyo, Edo, Rivers, Abia, Kwara, Imo, Anambra, Plateau, Jigawa, Akwa Ibom and Yobe.
A few banks in Lagos commenced payments of the old notes on Monday.
Unlike customers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Gombe and Benue states that had no access to cash, some depositors in Plateau and Anambra states protested the payment of old notes to them by bank tellers.
The bank customers in Plateau and Anambra said they were rejecting the old notes because traders, transporters and artisans still do not see them as legal tenders.
Many traders in Lagos FCT, Kwara and Akwa Ibom also turned down the old notes.
Some parts of Lagos where payments of old notes continued yesterday across the counters and Automatic Teller Machines(ATMs), included Festac Town, Ikeja, Agege, Victoria Island, Lekki, Ajah, Surulere and Mushin.
Some banks in Ibadan also paid their customers with old notes, thereby bringing respite to them.
Although there were long queues of customers at most of the banks, many expressed happiness that they could access funds.
However, it was different tales around town as some business owners, particularly filling station operators, rejected the old notes.
In Osogbo, Osun State, it was observed that banks along Ogo-Oluwa, Fakunle and GOF junction loaded their ATM machines with old notes. The availability of cash also excited the customers, especially at Ogo-Oluwa.
Also in Benin, Edo State, most commercial banks paid the old notes. Some customers were able to withdraw N10,000 via ATMs and counters while others had to do with less.
In Jos, Plateau State, bank officials were taken aback when residents, especially civil servants, that had thronged their banking halls turned down old notes paid to them.
The civil servants, who had spent hours in queues before entering the banking halls, insisted on being paid new notes. Those whose cheques were processed for withdrawal opted to deposit them and other customers in the halls and ATM galleries who got wind that they were to be paid old notes quietly left the queues.
One of them, Ephraim Andrew, said he was once paid in N500 old note which he had not been able to spend.
“That made me sceptical of collecting old notes today(yesterday). Since the public is rejecting it, I have no reason to collect it from the bank. So, if we collect old notes from banks, where are we going to spend them.”
Another customer, Eze Greg said: “I intended to withdraw N10,000 through the ATM, but when I discovered that the machine was dispensing old notes, I had to input only N2,000.”
Hundreds of customers in Owerri, Imo State who had waited for hours in queues were paid N5,000 each in old notes across the counters.
One of them who did not want to be named, said: “Some of us who managed to enter the banking hall were given N5,000 after waiting for several hours in the queue.
“Worst still, we were given old N500 and N1000 notes which market women, men and transporters are rejecting.”
The situation was, however, better in Awka, Anambra State where residents were able to withdraw a maximum of N20,000 each, but in old notes which traders and transporters also reject.
The traders and tricycle operators said they would not accept the old notes until the President addresses the nation.
In Dutse, Jigawa State where payments were also made by some bank branches, traders and small business operators turned down the old notes from their customers.
Traders, transporters and fuel stations in Ilorin, also did the same, leaving customers who had the opportunity of being paid N3,000 each by some banks in the Kwara State capital in a quandary.
But in Gombe and Benue states, banks neither paid the new nor old notes, leaving residents to groan more without cash.
A customer in Gombe, Hussaina Yila said: “It’s been pretty difficult getting money from banks and we thought that with the Supreme Court judgement, the banks will relax the policy to obey the rule of law but sadly the reverse is the case.”
Many of the customers, who queued for cash at ATMs on Victoria Island abandoned the machines when they discovered they were dispensing old notes.
A Lagos-based entrepreneur, Michael Abiodun, said it was very risky collecting the old notes since CBN had yet to clarify issues around the local currency.
“I cannot accept the notes because my customers are also not accepting them. What we need from the ATMs or bank tellers are new notes, not the same old notes we queued to return to the banks,” he said.
