WHERE ARE THE NEW NAIRA NOTES? CBN silent, as scarcity persists four months after

A customer who visited a commercial bank in Ikeja, Lagos to withdraw N50,000 cash was paid with the old naira notes. The customer noticed that others were also paid in old naira notes. He complained to the cashier and asked why the new notes introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over four months ago were not being paid out.

The frustrated-looking cashier replied that the bank had no control over the type of currency supplied as most of the supplies from CBN were in old notes.

Many Nigerians are asking what happened to the new naira notes introduced by the CBN which had caused so much hardship and grounded economic activities in the country, until the Supreme Court came to the rescue.

TrackNews reports that in October 2022, the CBN announced the redesign and introduction of new N200, N500, and N1,000 notes, effective December 15, 2022.

The CBN also said that the existing and new currencies would remain legal tender until January 31, 2023, when the old notes would be phased out.

Nigerians were then asked to deposit their old naira notes into their bank accounts to enable them withdraw the new banknotes once circulation began.

However, the apex bank printed insufficient new naira notes, resulting in widespread cash scarcity, and for the first time in history, Nigerians had to buy naira notes.

Despite the hardship, the CBN stuck to its gun and added another 10 days (February 10) for the old notes to be returned, advising Nigerians to use electronic transactions. This also created a number of problems, as banks did not have the infrastructure to support the deluge of e-transactions that followed.

After the deadline, there was chaos, forcing some state governors to drag the CBN and federal government to the Supreme Court, seeking that the old naira notes remain valid.

In defense, CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele stated that over 500 million pieces of new naira notes were printed and circulated.

He also stated that another 500 million would be printed with more orders in the subsequent months.

When a journalist asked about the scarcity being experienced, Emefiele went ahead to blame politicians and bank officials for the scarcity, that there were enough new notes in circulation.

To justify his submission, CBN thereafter launched a raid with the help of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on banks and homes of politicians.

After listening to the prayers of the governors, the Supreme Court decided to extend the validity of old naira notes to December 31, 2023, to give CBN enough time to circulate the redesigned notes.

However, since the apex court judgment in February, the new naira notes appear to have disappeared from bank ATMs and counters, despite the increase of currency in circulation from N982.09 billion in February to N1.6 trillion at the end of March 2023.

Speaking on the scarcity of the new notes four months after they were introduced, a branch manager at another commercial bank, who introduced himself simply as Ifeanyi, told Ripples Nigeria, “As bankers, we are also surprised. Many customers believe the fault is ours, but it is not. We release what we receive from the CBN to our customers.”

He further explained that 80% of every cash supply received from the CBN had been old notes.

He added, “It takes almost two years for new notes to be in full supply anywhere in the world. Based on the current situation, I am worried about what will happen again by December.”

A bank customer, Agnes Okeh who also aired her view on the matter, asked what would happen in December, even as she questioned the competence of the CBN boss in dealing with the situation.
“So if not for the Supreme Court, is this how Emefiele would have continued to make Nigerians suffer. What is the man even doing there if after four months he still can’t provide the new notes? Yet he gave a deadline of less than two months!
“How are we sure by the December deadline it won’t be back to square one?, she asked.

Attempts to contact Isa Abdulmumin, the CBN spokesman, to gain clarity on the limited supply of new naira notes, were unsuccessful as at the time of filing this report.

The only time TrackNews was able reach him, he insisted that TrackNews had to submit a letter to register as a media partner with the apex bank before he could attend to our inquiries.

He however asked our correspondent to call back. Since then, his phone lines have been unreachable.