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Business Owners, Transporters Reject Old Naira Notes

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Business owners have begun to reject the old naira notes ignoring interim injunction of the judgment of the Supreme Court.

Recall that the Federal Government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directed that all old naira notes must be swapped on or before February 10, 2023, following the naira redesign.

The redesign has continued to caused crisis in the 36 states of the country due to the unavailability of both the old and the new notes. Over time, banks have experienced massive queues by customers who intend to withdraw cash from the counter and Automated Teller Machines (ATM).

The continuous queues in banks have caused riots in some Nigerian states, leading three state governments; Kogi, Kaduna and Zamfara to drag the FG and the CBN before the apex court. The governments, worried by the effects the CBN’s naira redesign policy is having on the residents of their states, asked the court to restrain the apex bank from implementing the policy.

The Plaintiffs said that since the announcement of the new naira note policy, there has been an acute shortage in the supply of the new naira notes in Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara States and that citizens who have dutifully deposited their old naira notes have increasingly found it difficult and sometimes next to impossible to access new naira notes to go about their daily activities.

The three northern states were later joined by Lagos, Cross River, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo and Sokoto states in filing the case against the FG.

The Supreme Court, last week Wednesday, issued an interim injunction restraining the Federal Government from suspending the acceptance of the old Naira notes on the Friday February 10, 2023 deadline pending the time the case will be concluded.

On Wednesday, February 15, the Supreme Court, again, adjourned the suit filed by governors to challenge the naira redesign policy to Wednesday, February 22.

The apex court said it would consolidate all the cases, stressing that all the states would abide by its decision on the matter.

The head of the seven-man panel, Justice Inyang Okoro, warned that “Once you submit yourself to the court, you have to wait.

“We are all in this country and we can see what is happening. We have seen people destroying ATMs. We pray that there will not be a break down of law and order.”

However, AN24 observed that business owners have started to reject the old naira notes with the excuse that commercial banks no longer allow the deposit of the notes.

This medium observed that in Lagos business owners have put up sign notifying their customers that old notes are no longer accepted for transaction.

A food vendor in the Ogba axis part of Lagos told AN24 that she preferred to take her food home than take the old notes.

She said in pidgin, “The people I buy the ingredients used in making these foods no longer collect the old notes because banks are rejecting it. Where do you expect me to spend it.

On whether she accepts online banking, the shop owner said, “I don’t trust that process and I don’t want it. It fails a lot; from the experience I have gathered. Am I going to fight all my customers if their tranfers do not reflect?”

Also, a provision store and POS owner, Chuks, said he decided to lock his shop because he doesn’t have cash to give to customers and no one understands why he is rejecting the old notes.

In the Ishaga part of Lagos, business owners have also started rejecting the notes.

A shop owner, identified as Shaibu, told our correspondent that, “I go market yesterday, den no accept all the old notes wey dey my hand”.

Shaibu, a northerner, showed our correspondent close to N50,000 of the old naira notes that his suppliers rejected and said, “if anybody wan do transfer, I must see the alert first”.

AN24 also gathered that some transporters within the state have rejected the old naira notes, while others are indifferent.

Checks in Kogi, Oyo and Ogun states also revealed that the old naira notes have been rejected as a legal tender despite the fact that the apex court is yet to deliver her judgment.

Meanwhile, a commercial bank staff confided in our correspondent that the naira scarcity is as a result of shabby preparation of the CBN. The source also added that the apex bank has directed commercial banks to stop receiving the old notes.

However, CBN has relatively kept mum on the crisis that has rocked the nation following the new naira policy.

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