Naira crunch: Relief as FCT banks comply with CBN’s directives on old notes

By Stanley Onyekwere

There was sigh of relief for residents in the nation’s capital city, Abuja as some commercial banks commenced paying of old N500 and N1000 notes to their customers, following Monday’s directive and declaration by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that the denominations remained legal tender till December 31.
A visit to some banks yesterday, revealed that were dispensing the old Naira notes to their customers across the counter while the ATMs were still empty.
In particular, checks at United Bank for Africa (UBA), Area 3, it was observed that customers were being paid N10,000 each over the counter, which the officials who don’t want their names mentioned, said they were yet to receive money from the CBN.
While Union Bank and Guarantee Trust Bank were still waiting for cash to commence payment.
Also, at Polaris Bank, one of the staff, Nkechi Onwe, said: “We started paying N5,000 each to our customers in the morning, around 9Am to 12Pm, but the money we had in the vault is exhausted.There will be more money as from Friday”
Recall that Supreme Court had on March 3, 2023 ordered the government to recognise the notes as legal tender till the end of the year, this followed a suit brought before it by the Governors of Kaduna, Zamfara and Kogi states.
They instituted a suit against the Federal Government at the Supreme Court over the scarcity of old and new Naira notes due to the CBN naira redesign policy.
The states filed an ex-parte motion through their lawyer, AbdulHakeem Uthman Mustapha (SAN), and urged the Supreme Court to grant them an interim injunction stopping the Federal Government either by itself or acting through the CBN, the commercial banks or its agents from carrying out its plan of ending the timeframe within which the now older versions of the 200, 500 and 1000 denominations of the Naira may no longer be legal tender on February 10, 2023.
The state governments said they are worried about the effects the CBN naira redesign policy is having on the residents of their states.
They urged the Supreme Court to issue a restraining order to compel the government and CBN from implementing the policy.