Traders explain reasons new notes not accepted

Six days after the new naira notes went into circulation, some traders are still finding it hard to accept them as legal tender, Supreme reports.

The newly-redesigned N1,000, N500, and N200 bills became legal tender on December 15, 2022.

The Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, on Oct. 26 announced plans to redesign the denominated notes, saying the old notes would cease to be legal tender by Jan. 31, 2022.

He said the reason for the currency redesign was to stop counterfeiting and hoarding.

Alhaja Sofiat Balogun, a food vendor at the Cele-Egbe bus stop in Egbe, said that she would not accept the new notes just yet.

"People say that the money is not fine and that it is not everywhere yet. I will not accept it until I see that it is fully in circulation."

"I do not want to start accepting it, and when it's time for me to spend it, it will be difficult for me."

"And secondly, I have seen on social media a video of a fake new note of N1000; this makes me even more afraid to accept it," she said.

Mrs. Eme Jackson, a fruit seller in Ili-ewe market, Egbe, said the reason she had refused the money is because the notes are too light.

"I prefer the old notes because they are very durable; no matter how you handle them, they will still remain strong, unlike the new ones."

"The moment I saw it, I told my children not to accept it, even in my absence," she said.

Mr. Ozuome Benedict, a phone technician, urged the apex bank to do a proper awareness campaign on why they should accept the new notes.

"I do not have a problem accepting the new notes; the CBN should sensitize the people because so many are not aware that there is a new note, and that is why it is not accepted," he said.

Meanwhile, the correspondent's visit to some ATM machines around Ikotun, Ejigbo, and Oshodi showed that old notes were still being dispensed to customers.

On a visit to one of the banks, a teller told a customer who wanted to withdraw N100,000 that she could only be paid N20,000 in new notes and N80,000 in old notes.

But when the customer asked why she wouldn't completely pay her with the new notes, she (the teller) told her that she was acting on instruction.

"I'm sorry to tell you that you can only have N20.000 of the new notes. "This is an instruction given to us by the CBN," the teller said.

However, during the correspondent's visit to the Zenith Bank ATM, Eric Moore observed that the machine was dispensing the new notes of N500 and N200.

Some customers who saw the new notes for the first time expressed mixed feelings as they passed the N500 bill from one hand to another in admiration.