•Scarcity leaves banking halls empty
By Chinwendu Obienyi
Weeks after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) opened a portal for deposit of old N1000 and N500 notes, Daily Sun investigations have revealed that Nigerians still hold the expired notes still have an opportunity to deposit deposit them in their respective banks.
This is coming after President Muhammadu Buhari on February 15, stated in a nationwide broadcast that the old N500 and N1,000 notes have ceased to be legal tenders while the N200 notes remain acceptable till April 10, 2023.
It was widely believed that the President Buhari broadcast actually eased up the cash crunch that saw many Nigerians paying more than 30 percent in charges to access cash.
To ease the ensuing pains encountered by Nigerians in the search for the newly redesigned notes, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele warned PoS vendows against raising their charges as more banksbegan paying out cash in the old N200 notlast week’s Presidential elections, customers across the country could not withdraw cash from banks’ branches on account of their reportedly been without cash.
Investigations revealed that even after the presidential elections, the naira scarcity has continued, leaving many frustrated over their inability to settle their bills via e-payment channels. This development has seen the queues reduce drastically.
A cursory look at the CBN’s website shows that the portal for the depositing of old notes which opened on February 15, 2023, is still open.
The portal states, “Please click here to create your profile, generate reference and print out receipt for you to proceed to your selected bank branch to deposit your old N1000 and N500 notes into your bank account.
Please visit this link, https://crs.cbn.gov.ng only through the CBN’s website. Go to your selected bank branch with the print out”.
Also the portal stipulated that deposits with a Bank Verification Number (BVN) can only be done once.
Upon login to the portal depositors are required to fill in their Bank Verification Number (BVN), phone number, email address, bank details, address, the amount to be deposited as well as the denominations to be deposited, after which a reference number is generated.
Old notes at the CBN branches, customers would be required to have a completed online application form, copy of valid means of identification and a completed teller. Once the account is verified, the equivalent of the cash would then be deposited in the customers account.
“The CBN branches do not open accounts for individuals. As such, Individuals who wish to deposit their old, redesigned notes must have an active account with a Deposit Money Bank (Commercial Bank).
“Individuals who wish to deposit their old, redesigned notes are required to be orderly and comply with the instructions of the security personnel and other staff when in the Bank’s premises. If validation turns out negative, the bank will return the unvalidated old, redesigned notes in the form deposited,” the guideline read.
Meanwhile, analysts have predicted that the nationwide cash crunch following the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Naira redesign policy would subside post presidential and national assembly elections.
Also, the analysts urged the incoming government to first united the country and roll out policies that would encourage private sector growth.
They hinted that the economy regardless of who is elected as President would bounce back.