Naira Redesign: ATMs Yet To Dispense New Notes As CBN’s Deadline Approaches
Despite orders from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for commercial banks to load their Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) with new naira notes, dirty, old and mouldy currency notes keep coming out of the machines.
The development according some depositors has become frustrating as they allege that old notes hitherto returned to the banks are still being dispensed by cashiers in the banking halls and ATMs.
ATMs of UBA, Access, GTCO and other banks in Kubwa area of Abuja dispensed old notes on Tuesday.
It was the same scenario at Wuse, Mpape and other areas.
Some Point of Sale operators confirmed that new naira notes are still like scarce commodities in Nigeria, wondering how the new notes will across Nigeria before the January 31 deadline when the old notes will be withdrawn totally.
Margaret Johnson, a PoS operator, lamented: “I patrol ATMs from time to time to see if I can get the new notes but it’s like searching for a needle in a haystack.
“Customers are worried. We are also worried. Deadline is less than two weeks away.
“The confusion is killing”, she lamented.
Another PoS agent, Bola Amao, said the country was in a complete mess.
“CBN says there is enough new money. But ATMs and banking halls keep dispensing old notes. Who is fooling who?” A source at one of the banks said the new notes were in short supply. “As we get the new notes, we load the ATMs with them. For now, they’re scarce”, she said.
Meanwhile, barely 12 days to the deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) old naira notes in the country, some Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in Lagos are yet to dispense the new notes.
This is coming after the apex bank had issued a directive to the banks to dispense new notes via ATMs adding that this was to complement over-the-counter transactions and increase the circulation of the redesigned notes.
Furthermore, the apex bank warned banks to stop hoarding the new naira notes, saying it will sanction erring banks and financial institutions caught doing so.
But, investigations done by Daily Sun revealed that some ATMs on Lagos Island and mainland are still dispensing old notes. This development has left bank customers in frustrations amid mis-information that needs to be clarified immediately.
President Muhammadu Buhari had launched the redesigned notes of N200, N500 and N1000 on November 23, 2022. The new currency notes were to begin circulating from December 15, 2022. But bank customers have continued to lament its absence, for use in transaction the notes are not adequately distributed across the country.
