Barely three days after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) declared old N200, N500, and N1,000 as legal tender, some commercial banks in the country said they are beginning to run out of the old and new currencies.

Commercial banks which began the disbursements of old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes to their customers on Tuesday said they had started running out of the old and new currencies on Wednesday.

The Star had reported that commercial banks, markets, and filling stations in Lagos on Tuesday started accepting the old naira notes and also giving it as change following the CBN’s directive.

It was however learned that while traders and residents have fully complied to transact with the old naira notes, some banks have been run out of the old and new naira notes.

A bank official, who preferred anonymity, claimed that they do not have both the old and new naira notes in their custody to dispense to customers.

“We do not have money to give our customers, that is why we are not paying cash.

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“We are hopeful that we will get money from the CBN, following the directive,” the bank official said.

Multiple sources close to the CBN, on Wednesday, disclosed that the apex bank might not release the old notes in its custody to banks anytime soon, saying doing so might be tantamount to reversing the “progress” it had achieved on the cashless initiative.

“The CBN did not print enough new notes and does not want to return the old notes it has collected because it is still driving its cashless policy,” a senior bank executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Punch

Also, a top industry executive close to the CBN said the apex bank might not return the old notes to banks because it would reverse its cashless policy.

The managing director of a tier-2 bank said the CBN had yet to officially communicate to banks on whether it would release old notes to them or not.

“We don’t know if the CBN has destroyed the old notes in its custody or not. As we speak, we don’t also know if it will release the old notes to banks again but the truth is banks don’t have much of these old notes in their vaults. Sadly, customers are not depositing much again.

“Many of us are expecting the CBN to disburse the old notes before Saturday. However, we are concerned they may not do so to curtail vote-buying on Saturday,” he said.

Speaking on the development, a bank customer, Gift Amomo, said the cash crunch still persisted, in spite of the CBN’s directive on the recirculation of the old naira notes and willingness of the citizens to accept it.

“I just entered the bank but I was told that there was no cash. Both the old and new naira notes were not available for us to collect,” she said.

It would be recalled that the CBN, in a statement issued on Monday by its acting Director, Corporate Communications, Isa AbdulMumin, directed the commercial banks to comply with the Supreme Court judgement of March 3.

“Accordingly, the CBN met with the Bankers’ Committee and directed that the old N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes remain a legal tender alongside the redesigned banknotes till December 31.

“Consequently, all concerned are directed to conform accordingly,” the apex bank had said.

The Supreme Court, on March 3, extended the legal tender status of the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes until December 31, 2023.

The Star