Confusion as More Banks Dispense Old Naira Notes Amidst Gross Rejection

As the scarcity of new naira notes bites harder in Nigeria, more Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) have reportedly issued old N500 and N1000 notes to their customers.

This has erupted reactions from the people who lamented that traders and service providers are rejecting the old naira notes.

Investors King gathered that some commercial banks including Polaris Bank, First Bank, Zenith Bank Plc, Sterling bank and others currently pay old N500 and N1,000 notes over their counters and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs)

Nigerians have been thrown into a state of confusion as the Supreme Court has ruled that the old notes are still legal tender, yet the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN opposed the judgement.

Meanwhile, some Banks in Abuja that paid customers with the old naira notes later announced that they would not accept the old notes unless some conditions are met.

This angered more Nigerians who bitterly lamented how the government is insensitive to their plights with various contradictory policies.

One of the Access bank customers named Opeyemi explained that after giving old notes to them, the bank asked them to generate code from the CBN portal before they can deposit the old currency.

“They are asking us to go and generate online codes from the Central Bank of Nigeria before we can deposit the same old notes that they dispensed to us,” he said.

In an interview, the Secretary of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) Abuja-Suleja, Mohammed Shuaibu said oil marketers await the pronouncement of the president on the matter before receiving old notes.

He further said the CBN and commercial banks have not given them directives to accept the old currency despite the Supreme Court ruling.

Shuaibu said, “there is so much confusion right now around this old naira notes issue. Our banks have not given us the go-ahead to collect it and they don’t accept it.

“However, if the banks say we should collect the old notes, of course, we will accept the notes. But as it is now, we have not got any official confirmation. We are only hearing it from people.

“Once the banks tell our members to accept it, then I can assure you that we will comply with ease. We are hearing that the banks have started giving out the old notes, but as for me, I’ve not set my eyes on the old N500 and N1,000 notes. We are only hearing it.”