With the disbursement of the new naira notes comes mixed reactions as Banks and customers complain of the insufficient allocation. Some complained that the old notes were what they got from banking halls while some others are indifferent about the situation.
THE NEW NAIRA NOTES.
On December 15, 2022, the redesigned #1,000, #500 and #200 notes were officially released for usage after over three weeks of their unveiling by the President at the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting.
On October 26, Godwin Emefiele, the CBN Governor, announced the plan to redesign three of the country’s naira notes: #200, #500 and #1,000 and also stating that the old notes will be out of use as a legal tender from the 31st of January, 2023 while adding that the redesigning was mandatory to curb the problems of fake currency, increment among others.
As a result of the meager allocation of the naira notes, several branches of banking sectors are said to have run out of the new naira notes while many others are yet to get theirs as expected.
SAMPLES OF THE INSUFFICIENT ALLOCATION.
An anonymous official of a particular branch disclosed that the sum of a hundred thousand naira of the #1,000 was given to each cashier for customers who need over-the-counter payment and the other new notes were not allocated to them. In addition to this, the ATMs at the branch are said to not dispense the new naira notes as customers were depositing old naira notes and cashiers pay out more of the old notes.
In some instances, combination of the old notes and new notes were paid to customers in their OTC payment. In some bank halls, some customers ignored the new naira notes because of its rejection as a means of trading by local traders.
According to reports, only one of the branches in Abuja paid their customers the new notes and one of the ATMs at the center dispensed the new notes.
Same can be said about some branches in Lagos. As of Thursday, several banks in Lagos and Ogun were said to dispense only old notes.
