Nigerians in possession of the old N500 and N1,000 notes trooped out to their banks on Monday to deposit the old notes as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) left the portal for generating codes for the returning of old notes opened.
As at Monday night, the portal was still open for bank customers who sought to deposit their old notes.
This is as customers say the exercise has been less stressful as most of the banks credited their accounts almost immediately after the deposit had been made.
The CBN had, last Wednesday, opened the portal after President Muhammadu Buhari announced that the old N500 and N1,000 would no longer be legal tender whilst the old N200 note will remain legal tender till April 10, 2023.
Although, the apex bank had initially intended to leave the portal as well as the retuning of the old notes up till last week Friday, February 17, 2023, the portal remained open all through the weekend with many deposit money banks opening up their banking halls at the weekend to allow customers who had generated the codes deposit their old notes.
A Lagos employee, Nike Adebayo, who spoke with LEADERSHIP said, someone had helped her to fill the form on Sunday, but because her bank did not open on Sunday, she could not make the deposit of N4,500 old notes that she had.
“This morning (Monday) after I printed the form, I went to the bank, deposited the money and I have already gotten alert. It was easy and now I have to find a way to get the cash because there is no cash at the ATM when I wanted to withdraw it,” she stated.
Some customers however complained that their banks did not credit their account immediately. Akin, a transporter said, when he saw that people were being credited immediately, he had gone to business center to fill the form.
“I have deposited the money since and now the bank is telling me that I have to wait for the CBN to confirm my account before they give me my money,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is expected to sit on the case of the withdrawal of the old notes from the system which was brough against the federal government by some states tomorrow (Wednesday, February 22, 2023).
The Supreme Court had directed that the federal government and the CBN maintain status quo, allowing the old notes to remain legal tender until the case is decided.
