Whereas other money deposit banks (MDBs), supermarkets and several trading and service providers’ have surreptitiously started dodging the acceptance of old 200, 500, and 1,000 notes as legal tenders, the management of Africa’s Pan-African bank, Ecobank has announced its continued acceptance of the notes in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) directives.
The banks assured its numerous customers to keep faith it as it will continue to make life easier for them even in the current hardship of cash crunch.
Meanwhile, some commercial banks and filling stations have stopped collecting the old naira notes from customers, contrary to the ruling of the Supreme Court restraining the Federal Government from enforcing the February 10 time limit earlier fixed by the apex bank for the currency swap.
Fact check across major cities in Nigeria on Monday indicated that the banks refused to accept the old N1,000, N500 and N200 notes from depositors and point-of-service agents who flooded the bank to lodge their cash.
Point of service operators and other bank customers whose old naira notes were rejected, panicked as bank officials, who said they were acting on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s directive, remained adamant.
Also, lawyers and litigants at high courts in Lagos State were unable to file their court processes using the old naira notes for payment.
As the naira crisis worsened, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, again met with the President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Presidential Villa on Monday.
Emefiele, who had met with the President about six times since the naira crisis started, failed to address correspondents as he reportedly left the villa through a side entrance.
The governments of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states on February 8 secured the order of the apex court extending the deadline beyond last Friday stipulated by the CBN for the use of the old notes.
