Thirteen days after the issue of the freshly redesigned N200, N500, and N1,000 notes, and with 34 days till the old notes are no longer legal cash in the country, Automated Teller Machines in Lagos are yet to begin dispensing the new notes.
According to Leadership, majority of Lagos’s ATMs are still distributing old currency over the holiday season. This is because bank clients have complained that the new notes have not yet been distributed.
Some market women said that they are yet to actually see any of the denominations of the new notes.
Although some banks have been dispensing, majority of the banks’ ATMs are still dispensing old notes. A trader, Mrs Olajide, said: “I am yet to see the new notes, but I am expecting that from January we will start seeing more of the seeing the N200 notes.
“I am not sure if the January 31 deadline will be effective because we are yet to even see the new notes and January is just a few days away,” she stated.
An accountant also said that when he attempted to withdraw N100,000 from a Tier 2 bank, he was informed that he could only get N5,000 worth of replacement notes for the amount.
The replacement notes have already been distributed to the banks, who would then distribute them to their customers, according to a statement made earlier this month by CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele.
