It was learnt that many customers thronged Abuja banks to collect the notes while some rejected them.
Some commercial banks in Nigeria’s capital territory, Abuja on Wednesday began issuing the old N500 and N1,000 Naira notes to customers, in line with the order of the Supreme Court.
SaharaReporters reported last Friday that the apex court had restrained President Muhammadu Buhari-led Nigerian government from fully implementing the Naira redesign policy, which stopped the use of old N500 and N1,000 notes as legal tender.
The apex court on Friday held that President Buhari and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) did not follow the provisions of the Nigerian constitution before implementing the policy.
It also noted that President Buhari failed to consult the National Security Council and National Economic Council before implementing the policy.
The Supreme Court faulted the President for implementing the policy without consulting the 36 states of the federation, saying he should have given reasonable notice to the state governments before executing the policy.
It was learnt that many customers thronged Abuja banks to collect the notes while some rejected them.
A customer who collected the old N1,000 notes from First Bank told the News Agency of Nigeria NAN that he accepted them because they were issued to him by a commercial bank.
“Although we have not heard any information from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) about the old notes, the banks cannot be acting on their own,” he said.
Another customer said that although she collected the old notes from her bank, traders were not open to collecting them yet.
“I collected N20,000 of the old N1,000 notes from my bank, but when I went to the market, they refused to collect it.
“I also went to a restaurant to have lunch, but the woman in charge rejected it.
“This is frustrating because I thought that the issuance of the old notes would reduce our suffering,” she said.
A customer who also spoke with the news agency appealed to the CBN to make their stand known to the public on the old naira notes following the ruling of the Supreme Court.
“I went to my bank, and they were giving customers old notes, but I refused to collect them because people have not started spending them.
“Nobody collects these old notes in the market,” he said.
SaharaReporters on Monday reported that some commercial banks had begun dispensing the old N500 and N1,000 Naira notes.
A resident of Ilorin, Kwara State confirmed to SaharaReporters that the ATM machines of Guaranty Trust Bank at Umar Audu Road, Opposite University Road Junction, Tanke, GRA, 10, Ilorin paid him some old N1,000 notes.
A banker who also spoke to SaharaReporters corroborated this.
He said some banks had started dispensing the old notes but his bank had not got the go-ahead yet because of uncertainty surrounding the validity of the notes as legal tender in the country.
The Supreme Court had nullified the ban on the use of the notes, saying the notes remained legal tender until December 31.
The CBN is yet to respond to the apex court judgement on the old notes.
The CBN had stated that it did not issue any fresh directive to commercial banks on last Friday’s judgement of the Supreme Court ordering the circulation of the old naira notes alongside the new ones until December 31.
The CBN spokesman, Isa Abdulmumin, who spoke to Daily Trust, said the CBN had not issued an official statement.
However, a senior management source said, “Both the old and new notes are legal tender, and banks are currently issuing them to customers. Nigerians should not reject any note, whether old or new.”