As the week progresses, more commercial banks are dispensing old N1000 and N500 to their customers. At first, some banks were skeptical about giving out the old notes, but it seems a good majority of them have complied.
The story in Abuja is that some banks are dispensing the old notes to people. Meanwhile, they refuse to collect old bills from customers.
Furthermore, this situation has caused confusion in the country. Citizens are complaining that the old notes are being rejected by fueling stations, traders, and transporters. This leads to the question, “What is the solution to the economic situation?” Besides, why does a bank dispense old money and refuse to allow deposit of the same bills?
According to a customer, the banks ask them to generate online codes from the Central Bank of Nigeria before they can deposit the old notes. Massive queues have been observed in front of banks like GTB, Fidelity Bank, Polaris Bank, First Bank, and UBA.
What’s more, some banks are still paying in old cash. Some are not paying at all because of a lack of cash. Some banks are not paying the old bills, and they do not have new notes. Most customers will collect the old notes because they have business to transact. They also believe that the banks can’t act on their own without higher instructions.
Lastly, it seems that even with the order to allow the old notes to continue in circulation, Nigerians are still suffering in the cash matter.