As the 31 December deadline set by the Supreme Court for the legal status of the old naira note looms, many Nigerians are lamenting the unavailability of the refurbished naira note.
It is known that about 80% of the naira notes currently used by Nigerians are old notes.
It will be recalled that a seven-member panel of the Supreme Court led by Okoro ruled that the old notes must be put into circulation with the new notes by the end of the year.
Despite the ruling that notes should be used in parallel, bank customers across the country have revealed that most of the money they receive at bank branches and ATMs is in old notes. Even traders and transporters say that their customers rarely pay in the new notes.
At many bank branches visited in Victoria Island, Matri and Ikeja, Lagos, there were still queues of customers wanting to withdraw cash with a weekly limit of N20,000 and banks could only dispense old notes.
A CBN official told The Nation that many Nigerians are hoarding new naira notes ahead of the December deadline for the abolition of the old notes.
According to CBN officials, there is currently about N1 trillion in circulation, with more coins to be printed and issued.
According to sources, the apex bank plans to print more new money in December.
A CBN source said that for now, the central bank’s strategy is to address current needs, alleviate any problems and make old and new money available for people to access.
