It has been nearly 20 days since the newly redesigned naira notes have been in circulation and yet many Nigerians say they are yet to see it while some are not even aware that there are new versions of the N200, N500 and N1,000 notes.
This is as there are less than 30 days for the old versions of the redesigned notes to cease to be legal tender. Although the legislative arm of government is insisting on an extension of the deadline, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is still insistent on the January 31, 2023 deadline for the old notes in circulation to be returned to the banks.
A visit to banking halls as well as Automated Teller Machines (ATM) showed that despite assurances by the apex bank that the new notes will be available for circulation, old notes are still been circulated by banks in the country. For banks that are dispensing, only a fraction of the amount requested by customers over the counter are given in new notes and most times it will be on request.
Bank tellers had earlier assured that the new notes would be available for their customers before the Christmas holidays, but this was not to be as many of them are still giving out the old notes. A roadside fruit seller in Lagos when asked if he had seen the new notes said he was not aware that there is a new design for the n200, N500 and N1,000 notes.
The fruit seller may not be alone in his ignorance as there are reports of people rejecting the new naira notes. Last week, a man had been assaulted after he tried to make purchases with the new naira note. The man who had tried to pay for his meal at a local restaurant with the new N1,000 noted that he had been harassed and assaulted as the food vendor claimed that what he tried to pay her with was not real money.
Asides the new notes not in circulation, many are rejecting the new notes as they are afraid of counterfeits in circulation. A trader, Alhaja Balogun, said she would rather not accept the new notes just yet as she said, “People say that the money is not fine and they said that it is not everywhere yet, I will not accept it until I see that it is fully in circulation.
“I do not want to start accepting it and when it’s time for me to spend it, it will be difficult for me. And secondly, I have seen on social media, a video of a fake new note of N1000, this makes me even more afraid to accept it.” Another trader said she would not be collecting the new notes as they seem not to be as durable as the old notes.
However, with banks not dispensing the new notes, and with the prevalence of counterfeits rife in the public, its acceptability remains low despite the January 31 deadline for the old notes to be out of circulation. A banking agent in Iyana Ipaja area of Lagos, Johnson Okanlawon, noted that since the release of the new notes, he has not seen up to N10,000 of the new notes.
According to him, for a whole week, he had not seen any new notes, adding that since the new notes came out, he has had to screen the few notes that came his way as counterfeits are rife. “I am very careful when colleting the new notes, and the few that I have collected, I have had to screen them under security light. There are plenty fakes of the new notes everywhere, so I have to be careful.
“Even when we go to bank to go and make withdrawal, they say that there are no new notes. A microfinance bank that operates near me does not even have it at all. The first time they will see it was when I went to make some deposit and I had one note of the N1000.
“I don’t think that the January 31 deadline will work because if it will, by now, banks are not supposed to still be giving old notes,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the senate in a unanimous resolution sequel to a motion titled: “Urgent Need To Extend The Withdrawal Of Old Currency From Circulation,” sponsored by former senate leader, Senator Ali Ndume, had urged the CBN to extend the deadline for the return of the old currency from January 31, 2023, to June 30, 2023.
Ndume, who noted that the timing of the policy was wrong, said since the beginning of the implementation of the cash withdrawal limits, the new notes are not in circulation even in cities not to talk of the rural communities.
The CBN had on November 8, said it had finalised arrangements for the new currency to begin circulation from December 15, 2022, after its launch by President Muhammadu Buhari. It had explained that the new and existing currencies shall remain legal tender and circulate together until January 31, 2023, when the existing currencies shall cease to be legal tender.
Ndume said, “Many Nigerian banks on Thursday 15th December, 2022, opened their vault to customers and depositors to exchange their old naira notes for the newly- redesigned currency which has a stipulated deadline of January 31, 2023;
“Aware that some Nigerians are already envisaging rush and long queues in the banking hall across the country as a result of people trying to get access to the new naira note, which was unveiled last month by President Mohammad Buhari at a brief ceremony at the state house, Abuja.
“Aware also that the old notes are expected to be in circulation alongside the new ones until January 31, 2023, when the old notes are expected to be phased out, it is expected that many Nigerian businesses would start to reject the old notes as soon as the banks start paying out the redesigned notes to customers.
He further noted that access to the new notes may be compounded by the recent circular by the CBN, which limit the amount of cash individuals and corporate entities could withdraw within a certain period of time. “For instance, the CBN said individuals could only withdraw N100, 000 per week, while corporate could only have access to N500, 000 per week through over-the-counter (OTC) transactions.
“Large withdrawals are also subjected to scrutiny by the regulator to determine the importance and usage of such cash and convinced that if the withdrawal of old notes from circulation is not extended beyond 31st January, many Nigerians will be thrown into hardship and to avoid a repeat of 1984 experience withdrawal of old notes.”
