Exactly 26 days before old naira notes will be faced out, Nigerian banks are still without the approved new notes.
In fact, most Nigerians are still having huge challenges accessing the redesigned currency notes in Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and banking halls across the country.
The development comes weeks after the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, announced the new notes would be circulated across the country by December 15, 2022.
The apex bank had also set a deadline of January 31, 2023 for all the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes to be withdrawn from the financial system and would cease to be legal tender.
Emefiele had stated that the new notes have already been dispensed to the banks who would in turn dispense to their customers. He also advised Nigerians to deposit the denominations to be redesigned to their various banks, saying that banks would be open for operations from Monday to Saturday weekly.
A countdown clock which is visible on the CBN’s website, shows January 31, 2023, as the deadline for the affected notes to cease as legal tender.
A bank official who spoke to veritynewsonline in confidence said the unavailability of the new notes was due to the inability of CBN to circulate them.