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By Chinwendu Obienyi
Following the injection of funds across commercial banks in Lagos, Daily Sun investigations can reveal that cash flow in the financial system has significantly improved.
This is coming after several commercial banks at the weekend paid naira notes to customers over-the-counter and via their automated teller machines (ATMs). The CBN had last October the redesigning the N200, N500 and N1,000 notes which it later introduced into the system on December 15, 2022.
However after initially setting January 31, 2023 as the deadline to stop the use of the old notes, the apex bank shifted the timeline to February 10, 2023, thereby triggering an acute shortage of naira notes in banks across the country..
But after several weeks of back and forth between the Federal Government and the Supreme Court, the apex bank finally yielded to the Supreme Court’s judgement, to the effect that the old N200, N500 and N1000 will remain legal tender till December 31, 2023.
Despite a CBN directive on the validity of Naira notes, commercial and Microfinance Banks (MFBs) across the country continued to ration bank notes to customers.
This later prompted the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) threat on March 22 to picket CBN offices nationwide if the apex bank fails to comply with the Supreme Court’s order.
Labour also directed all it affiliate unions to begin mobilisation to ensure total compliance with the proposed shutdown.
But the CBN in a quick response, promised that it would make cash available to commercial banks to dispense to the public and also directed the banks to open their halls to customers at weekends for cash withdrawals.
Checks by Daily Sun at strategic markets and banks across the country revealed a gradual easing of the cash crisis as many banks were found dispensing cash, both over the counter and through their ATMs.
Customers queues at the gates of commercial banks can be seen shoving and pulling to access cash at the ATMs and banking halls have reduced significantly even though they are yet to disappeared completely.
Similarly businesses in Lagos seem to be returning to life as a result of increased patronage arising from customers’ increasing accessibility to cash. There have also been a marginal drop in charges at PoS centres since the beginning of the week as banks intensified the disbursement of cash.
However, Daily Sun observed over the weekend that the quality of the old naira notes being reintroduced remains somewhat dirty and mutilated leaving most customers complaining.
Ikechukwu Obiora, a businessman who withdrew N40,000 at one of the new generation banks at Lekki Phase 1, said, “I came here to make a withdrawal today and I was really pleased that my relationship with one of the bank staff paid off. But on counting the money, I was uncomfortable with the dirty notes I got. I complained but was urged to manage it because there was more of it in the bank branch. I even asked why the new notes were few, and the cashier told me, there was none available.”
When Daily Sun asked the said staff, she said, “We are facing serious pressure from customers, who are desperate to make withdrawals. Some are even asking for new notes but I have not even seen new notes around here for weeks now. We do not have and if we have, we will mix them with the old notes to pay to customers”
