By Dipo Olowookere
Some Nigerians have expressed serious concerns over the scarcity of the new Naira notes in circulation, also a month after the banks were allowed to make them available to their customers officially.
On October 26, 2022, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, at a special press briefing, announced that the bank would redesign the N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes.
According to him, the move was to control the amount of cash in circulation as the central bank had observed that more than 80 per cent of the money in circulation was not in the banking vaults.
On November 23, 2022, President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled the new notes, and on December 15, 2022, they became available for Nigerians through the banks.
During his chat with newsmen last October, Mr Emefiele said the old banknotes would remain valid until after January 31, 2023.
His announcement was met with mixed feelings, with some asking the central bank to extend the deadline for the mopping up of the old Naira notes from the system as it was too short.
But the CBN has maintained that it would not extend the date from January 31, 2023.
About two weeks ago, Business Post reported that Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) of most commercial banks in the country were still dispensing old notes to customers.
Also, bank customers were still being given the old Naira denominations from over-the-counter (OTC) due to the scarcity of the new notes.
In the report, a staff of one of the commercial banks, who asked for anonymity, said they were instructed to ration the notes, while another bank representative confirmed that the new notes are “being rationed” because the CBN has not provided sufficient amounts to banks.
With about three weeks to the deadline for the old notes to cease to be legal tender in Nigeria, some Nigerians, especially POS operators, are raising concerns about the scarcity of the new notes.
One of the operators, who identified herself as Mrs Shakirat Adediran, said she does not know what step to take as the deadline draws closer.
She also informed this reporter that some of her customers reject the new notes whenever she pays them with them.
“I am really confused about what to do. I intend to stop accepting the old notes from the last week of the deadline and take them to the bank. I do not want to be caught unawares.
“Also, the problem is when we go to banks to get cash, we are given the old notes. Before now, they used to ration it, but this has stopped. They pay us in old notes.
“Even our customers reject the new notes when we give them. They complain that the money looks fake. Even the educated ones do not want to collect the redesigned Naira,” Mrs Adediran, who operates her business in Lagos, told Business Post.
This view was also echoed by a bank customer in Lagos, who identified himself as Mr Sunday Okoro. He disclosed that the new notes are very scarce.
“With the way these new Naira notes are scarce in circulation, I foresee the CBN extending the deadline. The time it gave to mop up the old notes is just too short,” Mr Okoro told this reporter.
An operator of a nails shop in the Ipaja area of Lagos, Ms Bisi Tajudeen, said “I only saw the new N1,000 note during the festive period. I am yet to see what the N200 and N500 denominations look like. The money is very scarce, and I wonder how the CBN intends to address this issue, except it wants to put many Nigerians into trouble by making their money useless after January 31 if the deadline is not extended.”
Adedapo Adesanya