Tension as Commercial Banks reject old Naira notes

There was apprehension among residents of Abeokuta on Monday morning as commercial banks in the Ogun State capital started rejecting the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes.

It will be recalled that the Central Bank of Nigeria had initially set February 10 as deadline for the deposition of old notes in the banks.

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But two days to the February 10 deadline, the Supreme Court ordered the government to temporarily suspend the deadline pending the determination of the suit brought before it by some state governments.

And since the apex court gave the verdict, Nigerians have been expecting the CBN to make known its position regarding the judgement, especially when the February 10 deadline day came and passed.

And as the apex bank refused to comment on the deadline extension ordered by the Supreme Court, Nigerians have reportedly taken the CBN silence to mean it fully accepted the Supreme court verdict, which means the old notes can still be deposited and used for transactions till Wednesday.

But as commercial banks resumed on Monday, people who were to deposit their old notes could not do so in Abeokuta as cashiers refused to accept them.

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According to The Daily Post, a customer said she could not deposit her N200,000 because her bank rejected the old notes.

With this development, many were seen making calls to their relatives and sales representatives, warning them not to accept the old notes from customers as banks no longer take in deposits with the notes.

A banker anonymously told Daily Post that they got directives from the headquarters not to deposit the old notes.

“We were accepting the old notes earlier in the morning, but we got directives from our headquarters around 9am that we should no longer accept the old notes. That’s why we stopped,” the banker said.

It was gathered that the commercial banks were rejecting the old notes because the CBN is yet to speak to them about extending the February 10 deadline or obeying the court order.