Six days after the new naira notes went into circulation, the News Agency of Nigeria says that some merchants still find it hard to accept them as legal money.
On December 15, 2022, the new N1,000, N500, and N200 bills were made legal tender.
Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, said on October 26 that the denominated notes would be changed. He also said that the old notes would no longer be legal tender as of January 31, 2022.
He said that the new money was made to stop people from making fake money and saving it.
Alhaja Sofiat Balogun, who sells food at the Cele-Egbe bus stop in Egbe, said that she would not accept the new notes just yet.
“People say that the money isn’t good and that it’s not everywhere yet. I won’t take it until I see that it’s everywhere.”
“I don’t want to start taking it, and it’ll be hard for me to spend it when the time comes.
“And secondly, I saw a video of a fake N1,000 note on social media, which makes me even less likely to accept it,” she said.
Mrs. Eme Jackson, who sells fruit at the Ili-ewe market in Egbe, said that she turned down the money because the bills are too light.
“I like the old bills better than the new ones because they are very strong and won’t break no matter what you do to them.
“As soon as I saw it, I told my kids they shouldn’t take it, even if I wasn’t there,” she said.
Also, Mr. Ozuome Benedict, a phone technician, asked the apex bank to make sure people know why they should take the new notes.
“I have no problem accepting the new notes,” he said. “The CBN should make people aware of the new note, though, because so many people don’t know about it.”
While this was going on, NAN went to ATMs in Ikotun, Ejigbo, and Oshodi and saw that people were still getting old bills.
A Teller at one of the banks told a customer who wanted to withdraw N100,000 that she could only get N20,000 in new notes and N80,000 in old notes.
But when the customer asked why the teller wouldn’t pay her in full with the new bills, the teller said she was following orders.
“I’m sorry, but you can only have N20,000 in new notes. This is what the CBN has told us to do,” the Teller said.
But when NAN went to the Zenith Bank ATM on Eric Moore, the machine was giving out the new N500 and N200 bills.
When some customers saw the new bills for the first time, they passed the N500 bill from hand to hand with mixed feelings.
