Banks Ration Old Notes As Naira Crisis Bites Harder

With the naira scarcity still rocking the nation, commercial banks have begun to ration the disbursements of old ₦1,000 and N500 notes to their customers amid uncertainty over whether the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will release the old notes in its custody.

Naija News reports that the apex bank had on Monday announced that old ₦1,000, N500 and N200 notes remained legal tender.

This came days after the Supreme Court ruled in a suit between some state governments and the Federal Government.

However, despite the CBN announcing the legal status of the old 1000 and 500 naira notes, the naira scarcity still persists across the country.

Investigations by The PUNCH revealed that banks were rationing old notes to their customers via over-the-counter payments with a few lenders loading their Automated Teller Machines.

According to findings, the majority of the lenders in Lagos, Abuja, Ogun, Kwara and other states were paying only ₦5,000 to each customer over the counters, while a few banks paid N10,000 only.

It was gathered that only few Deposit Money Banks (DMO) loaded their ATMs and most of them were disbursing only ₦5,000.

While most banks were paying what was left in their vaults, having sent a major chunk of old naira deposits to the CBN several weeks ago, officials revealed that lenders were also paying customers from little fresh deposits made by their customers.

According to the publication, Wema Bank at Ilupeju, Lagos placed a limit on its ATM withdrawals from other banks’ cards and was dispensing only old naira notes.

The bank’s customers were able to withdraw only N10,000 with Wema Bank’s cards, while other banks’ customers could withdraw only ₦4,000 only.

At the Access Bank branch on CMD Ikosi Road, Lagos, customers were asked to generate a code from the CBN portal before they could be allowed to deposit. They said this was mandatory although the CBN had declared old notes legal tender.

One of the bank officials said, “We are paying the old notes but if you want to deposit them, you must go and generate the pin from the CBN portal.”

A visit to the First Bank branch at Mazamaza along Lagos-Badagry Expressway revealed that the bank had started dispensing the old notes via over-the-counter withdrawals.

At the Union Bank branch also in Mazamaza, the situation was the same.

The branches of United Bank for Africa, Access Bank, and Fidelity Bank at Oshodi in Lagos also dispensed old notes to their customers, though they had long queues.

At the Fidelity Bank branch, one of their three Automated Teller Machines was dispensing old ₦1,000 notes.

A customer, who collected the old notes from the ATM, Helen Orji, expressed relief.

She said this was the first time that she was able to collect cash from an ATM.

Orji said: “It’s a major relief. PoS charges are killing. I wanted to buy baby formula on Monday, so I went to collect ₦5,000 and was given ₦4,000. It wasn’t enough for what I wanted to buy. To be able to go back to normal is a relief.”

Meanwhile, when a bus conductor plying the Mile 2-Oshodi route on Tuesday attempted to refuse the old notes, his passengers revolted and started handing him old N500 and ₦1,000 notes. He backed down and accepted the old notes.