Following the scarcity of new notes, banks in Kaduna now pay their customers with N50 and N100 notes.
A Media Talk Africa correspondent who visited banks on Monday observed they paid customers with the notes as they complained of the unavailability of the new notes.
A staff of the banks who spoke to Media Talk Africa said, “We have not received new currency. But we are now paying our customers; N100 and N50 notes to customers who are anxious to withdraw money.”
However, some customers who wondered why the bank could not pay them with new notes rejected the lower denominations.
Mr. James Onoja said, “I went to the bank to withdraw N100,000, and they insisted on paying me with N50 and N100 notes. Just imagine the bulk of N50 notes that make up of N100,000.”
Several Automated Teller Machines, ATMs, within the Kaduna metropolis were filled with anxious customers who insisted on withdrawing new currency.
Mallam Nasir Idris, a trader, said he was at the ATM to withdraw money for his business but unfortunately could not withdraw the new notes.
” I have spent almost two hours now, waiting for the staff to load money, but there is no money,” he said.
Recall that the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, had announced a redesign of the N200, N500 and N1,000 notes. It initially announced January 31, 2023, as the deadline for swapping all old notes but due to the outcry that met the date and its inability to meet the demand for new notes, it shifted the deadline to February 10.
