Deposit Money Banks have begun to ration the disbursements of old N1,000 and N500 notes to their customers amid uncertainty over whether the Central Bank of Nigeria will release the old notes in its custody.
This came about 24 hours after the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, announced that old N1,000, N500 and N200 notes remained legal tender.
But despite the CBN’s statement on Monday night, the Nigeria Labour Congress on Tuesday insisted on the seven-day ultimatum it gave the Federal Government to end the cash crunch.
The apex bank’s position came on the heels of several weeks of confusion over the legal status of the old currencies amid a series of Supreme Court judgments in a suit between some state governments and the Federal Government.
The declaration by the CBN was expected to put an end to the scarcity of old and new naira notes that had inflicted pain on Nigerians but findings on Tuesday revealed that the naira crisis might not be over soon.
Investigations revealed that banks were rationing old notes to their customers via over-the-counter payments with a few lenders loading their Automated Teller Machines.
But findings revealed that the majority of the lenders in Lagos, Abuja, Ogun, Kwara and other states were paying only N5,000 to each customer over the counters, while a few banks paid N10,000 only.
Further findings indicated that only a few banks loaded their ATMs and most of them were disbursing only N5,000.
Top bank executives revealed that most banks were paying what was left in their vaults, having sent a major chunk of old naira deposits to the CBN several weeks ago.
Other officials said lenders were also paying customers from little fresh deposits made by their customers.
PUNCH
