…amid widespread scarcity of new notes
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday launched a countdown to the January 31, 2023 deadline for the phase-out of the old N1,000, N500, and N200 banknotes.
The CBN posted the countdown on its Twitter page, noting at the time of posting that there were 24 days and 12 hours left before the old banknotes cease to be legal tenders.
“The current series of N200, N500, and N1,000 notes remain legal tender until the deadline of January 31, 2023,” the bank said.
The apex bank is also running a similar countdown on its website.
This is coming amid widespread complaints by Nigerians that the new naira banknotes are not fully in circulation.
From one end of the country to the other, reports quote many citizens as saying that they have neither seen nor transacted with the new notes.
Across banking halls and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) galleries, the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes are still very much the currencies in circulation.
Many banks are not paying customers with the new notes and ATMs are not dispensing them. Point of Sale (PoS) operators do not have the new notes either.
When the CBN on October 26, 2022 announced its plan to redesign, produce, and circulate new series of N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes as part of measures to control inflation, mop up currency outside the banking system, fight corruption and discourage payment of huge cash to kidnappers and bandits, the decision had been met with stiff opposition. However, CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele said the plan had the blessing of President Muhammadu Buhari.
On November 23, Buhari unveiled the new currency designs and on December 15, the CBN pushed the new notes into circulation, saying both the new and existing notes would remain legal tenders until January 31, 2023 when the old notes would be phased out.
However, three weeks after the new notes went into circulation, and as the January 31 deadline draws close, Nigerians are lamenting that the new notes are nowhere to be found.
Meanwhile, currency hawkers seem to be cashing in on the scarcity of the new notes to make brisk business from the few in circulation.
Daily Trust reported on Wednesday that currency hawkers In some areas charge as high as N10,000 on a bundle of the new notes irrespective of denomination.
For instance, the newspaper reported that a bundle of new N200 notes, which is worth N20,000, is sold for N30,000, while N500 and N1,000, which are N50,000 and N100,000, are sold for N60,000 and N110,000, respectively.
It quoted a currency hawker who spoke on condition of anonymity as saying, “There are very few new notes in the market. It was a difficult task getting them during the festive period. We would have made huge gains if they were available. We also paid for the few new notes we got so we have to put the charges.”
On Wednesday, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) lamented the scarcity of the new naira notes, urging the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to hunt down currency hawkers and Very Important Personalities who have mopped up the few new naira notes in circulation.
In a statement by Emmanuel Onwubiko, its National Coordinator, HURIWA’s also accused the CBN and deposit money banks of collusion with currency hawkers selling the new notes at black markets to partygoers who buy for a fortune.
HURIWA expressed solidarity with the World Bank which had said in a report that the timing and short transition period of the Nigerian naira redesign may have “negative impacts on economic activity, in particular for the poorest households”.
“About three weeks after the release of the redesigned N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes by the CBN, millions of Nigerians, even those in cities like Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano and other places, are yet to see or touch the new naira notes. The situation is particularly worse in remote places and villages,” HURIWA said.
“Black marketers, politicians and expatriates continue to get access to crispy naira notes but deny millions of ordinary Nigerian bank depositors access to the new notes despite the approach of the deadline of January 31, 2023.
“It is unfortunate that despite the warning by the World Bank that the short timing for the currency change will cause economic pressure on Nigerians, the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele ignored the advice of such global fiscal body and went ahead to implement the currency change,” it said.
