Lagos, March 6, 2023 – The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is still maintaining its silence on the implementation of Supreme Court’s order allowing the circulation of old naira notes.
The apex court, had in its judgment on Friday, ordered the CBN to allow the old currency notes of N200, N500 and N1000 to continue to be in circulation till Dec. 31, 2023.
The apex court ruled that the old notes should still be circulating along with the new notes till then in a suit brought before it by some state governors on the naira redesign programme.
But the CBN has refused to implement the order or comment on its implementation three days after the judgment.
Some officials of the bank denied knowledge of the court’s order when contacted by the Global Business News (GBN) on Monday.
“I am still waiting to get directives on the issue,” was a terse response from one of the bank’s officials.
But while CBN keeps maintaining its silence, average Nigerians are not do finding the situation funny.
Many bank customers in Lagos, who had expected to get money from banks in view of the Supreme Court’s judgment, went home disappointed.
All the banks visited in Lagos on Monday by correspondents of Global Business News (GBN) did not pay to customers either through the ATMs or across the counter.
The banks visited included GTBank, FCMB, Zenith Bank, UBA, Lotus, First Bank and Union Bank.
The branches visited were on Lagos Island, Yaba, Ikeja, Agege, and Egbeda, among others.
Many customers, who had been in the banks since the early hours of Monday, returned home disappointed.
Miss Bola Akinbola, one of the customers in GTB branch on Ipaja Road, Egbeda, said she had “had high hope of getting some relief from these frustrations today in view of the Supreme Court’s judgment, but here I am.
“I should be in school now, but am still at home with my parents because of this crisis. I beg government to do something on it immediately,” she said.
Biodun Lawal, a customer in UBA branch on Oba Akran Road, Ikeja, said he came as early as 6.00am to queue with the hope of getting some money, but was told after three hours on the queue that there was no money in the branch.
“I have thought that there would be something positive today because of Supreme Court’s judgment on Friday, I am disappointed,” he said.
A bank official at FCMB branch in Alimosho said there was no money at the branch when GBN visited around noon.
“There is no money; there is no any information,” she said. (GBN)
