FOLLOWING the Supreme Court judgment, which extends the validity of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) currency redesign policy to December, some deposit money banks have started paying out the old note, News Point Nigeria gathered.
Checks by this newspaper showed that some commercial banks in the City of Kano and Abuja have commenced paying out the old N500 and N1000 notes.
While some branches of Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB) issued out old notes, some others like Polaris bank in Abuja had not commenced as of the time this report was filed.
A member of staff confided in our reporter that only the old N200 notes were still being issued, “as we do not have any new directive on what to do yet.”
Sources at GTB said they received a directive from their management to begin paying old notes in their vault, “the problem is that taking the old note from customers will require the CBN form as we don’t have any directive in that regard.”
As of the time of this report, this newspaper is unable to confirm if the CBN has officially issued a bank-wide circular instructing the Deposit money bank to comply.
Economic experts have asked President Muhammadu Buhari to direct the Governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, to obey the judgment on the validity of the old naira notes.
An economist, Paul Alake, had said there needs to be more clarity on how the old N500 and N1000 notes return into circulation.
