Despite the Supreme Court upliftment of the old naira note ban, Nigeria’s Banks wait for additional instructions from the Central Bank of Nigeria for the deposit and recirculation of old N500 and N1,000 as there is a sense of anxiety among them.
The old naira notes shall be permitted to circulate alongside the new ones until December 31, 2023, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday.
Deposit Money Banks have not yet informed their clients whether the old N500 and N1,000 notes will be circulated or if they will merely continue to issue the new naira notes when they become available.
Similar to how millions of Nigerians, who are suffering from a severe cash shortage, have voiced optimism that money will start to flow into banks on Monday. They stated that in light of the Supreme Court’s decision, the CBN should move quickly to make cash—both old and new notes—available right away.
“There will be no excuse this time round because even if they say they don’t have the new notes, the old notes they took from us is with them, so they should simply bring them out,” a concerned customer, Doyin Adewumi, said.