Redesigned Naira: Nigerians stranded as scarcity persist at ATMs
By Chukwuemeke Iwelunmo
Despite the announcement by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that it has extended old naira use for transactions to February 10, almost all the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) at Ikeja airports have stopped dispensing both the old and new naira notes leaving passengers stranded.
Godwin Emefiele, the apex bank Governor announced the extension in a statement released to the newsmen on Sunday. However, a visit to the Murtala Mohammed Airport 2 popularly called MMA 2 showed that all the banks ATMs were not dispensing any currency note.
For instance, a check at United Bank for Africa (UBA) revealed that none of its ATMS at MMA2 were loaded as bank customers couldn’t withdraw from the machines.
“The security personnel at the entrance of the bank said there was no money in the machines and that we should withdraw over the counter. Approaching the counter, the cashier doled out old naira notes to us and when asked why the old currency notes, the lady cashier said it was all they had that the bank was short of the new naira notes.”
Although, some customers rejected the old currency notes but worst affected were those who could not do transaction with their mobile apps, checks have revealed.
The story was not different at the Guarantee Trust Bank at MMA2, as all its ATMs were dry of cash.
At the Wema Bank, Dopemu, the ATM was seen dispensing cash though not more than N20, 000, even as findings indicated that operators of Point of Sale (PoS), were also affected as they rejected carrying out their transactions with the old currency notes.
Although, before the extension announcement by Emefiele, hospitals, corporate transport organisations and other agencies have sent out short messages to their customers, notifying them that the old currency notes will not be accepted as from Monday January 30. But this seized to be as CBN yesterday extended the deadline to February 10th, 2023.
Visit to some petrol stations across the metropolis, also, showed that over the weekend before the CBN extension announcement, large number of them had stopped taken the old notes and asked customers to make use of POS
Consequently, some aggrieved customers who were unable to withdraw money from the ATM, however, accused the bank officials of sabotage by conniving with some PoS agents in doing business with the new notes.
Meanwhile, Emefiele explained that the apex bank has sought approval from President Muhammadu Buhari to extend the deadline for the use of the old notes by 10 days.
“Based on the foregoing, we have sought and obtained Mr President’s approval for the following: A 10-day extension of the deadline from January 31 to February 10 to allow for the collection of more old notes legitimately held by Nigerians,” the statement read.
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“A 7-day grace period, beginning from February 10 to February 17, in compliance with Sections 20(3) and 22 of the CBN Act allowing Nigerians to deposit their old notes at the CBN after the February deadline when the old currency would have lost its Legal Tender Status.”
The CBN Governor also solicited the cooperation of all Nigerians in ensuring a hitch-free process for the implementation of the policy. Before the apex bank extended the use of the naira note, many Nigerians experienced difficulty in lodging their old banknotes.
