Many residents of Akure, the Ondo State capital, have lamented the refusal of many banks in the city to collect old naira notes.
A tour of the city on Tuesday morning by our correspondent showed the presence of people queuing in many of the banks in the city.
In the Alagbaka area of the city, which has one of the highest numbers of banks in the city, residents bemoaned the effects of the latest development, as many stated that the development has crippled their businesses.
A resident who identified herself as “Mummy Folorunsho” explained that her children could not go to school today because there was no cash to give them for transportation.
“Our government should come to our rescue; I have been at the First Bank since 7:30 a.m. this morning, and nobody has yet to attend to us. How do they expect us to survive?”
Another resident, a retiree, Mr. Adams Ikumapayi, stated, “How do they want us to survive? How do I explain it to myself that I can’t even access my own money? That despite the large numbers of banks in this area, not one is willing to come to our rescue? This is not fair.” “Nigeria is not treating us well.”
Also, another resident, Mr. Rufus Olasunkanmi, berated the bank for going against the instructions of the federal government regarding the collection of the old naira notes.
“I thought the government said we can still transact with the old notes; if that’s so, then why are our banks acting this way?”
These people are meant to serve our interests; it’s very sad to see all these things happening. This is one of the reasons our youth are leaving the country. “You can’t just blame them as there’s nothing encouraging about Nigeria at the moment,” he added.
It will be recalled that the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has said that the CBN will continue to accept the old naira notes even after the deadline for swapping them for the newly designed currency notes.
He stated this while appearing before the House of Representatives committee on the new naira redesign and swap policy.
Emefiele said, “We (CBN) are mandated to collect this money (old naira notes), and I stand with the House of Representatives on this.”
“What does that mean?” It could have lost its legal tender status, which means we have moved on. But if you have money that you have not been able to send to the bank, we will certainly give you the opportunity to bring it back into the CBN to redeem it. Either you pay it to your bank account or you want to do an exchange, we will give it to you. You will not lose your money. That is the assurance I give to Nigerians.
