Business owners in Nigeria have begun to devise means to limit the intake of old naira notes following the commencement of new naira noted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) today, Thursday, December 15, 2022.
Brand Spur Nigeria reports that last month, precisely on November 23, President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled the newly redesigned N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes at the State House in Abuja.
The higher denominations of the local currency were redesigned by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) after obtaining approval from President Buhari.
The action, according to the Governor of the central bank, Godwin Emefiele, was taken to have control over the currency in circulation and also to tackle counterfeiting.
The apex bank said it observed that of the N3.2 trillion in circulation, about N2.7 trillion was not in the banking system, indicating over 80 per cent. To address this issue, the Naira was redesigned.
At a briefing in Abuja on October 26, 2022, Emefiele said the old and new notes would remain valid until after January 31, 2023, when the old notes would cease to be legal tender in Nigeria.
At the unveiling of the new banknotes, it was stated that they are embedded with security features that would be difficult to break by counterfeiters.
It is expected that banks will begin to give out the new Naira notes at over-the-counter (OTC) and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).
Business Owners Devise Means To Limit Intake Of Old Notes As New Naira Notes Hit Circulation Today
However as the new naira notes is set to get into circulation, business owners across Lagos have expressed worries at the ease of doing business with the recent CBN policies including the cash withdrawal limits and the time frame for the phasing out of the old naira notes.
In a chat with Newsbreak Nigeria, Keshinro Adeola, a POS operator in Ogba axis of Lagos state said she will start devising means to limit her intake of old currency so that she is not faced the stress of having to rush into the bank to make deposits when the new notes go into circulation today.
“I will devise means to limit intake of the soon-to-be-phased-out old currencies, as i don’t want to have difficulties visiting the bank later on,” she said.
On his part Okechukwu a foodstuff seller at Sunday market said despite the fact that he will still be collecting old notes, he’ll rather customers do transfers when they come to buy foodstuff.
“I will start giving customers the option of making transfers so that i do not get to hold too much cash,” he said.
He however said that he will however not refuse old notes until the government set deadline is up.
Adenike Arowolo a cold room operator at Ojodu Berger axis of the state like Okechukwu said she will first sell the option of POS and transfer to customers, making physical cash collection the last option.
“Except you are with the new notes I’d rather customers make payments with POS or cash transfer, not like i will not collect cash, but it will be my last option,” she said.
However, Adeshina Ajose a business analyst explained that business owners will have to face a lot of stress with cash circulation, going with the recent cash withdrawal limit policy and the recently redesigned naira notes.
“While business owners will be limited to a certain amount of cash when the new CBN withdrawal policy goes into effect, they also do not have an option of keeping cash at hand as the deadline for the use of old notes will force them to make deposits at the banks,” the analyst said.
He suggested that the only way for business owners to solve the problem of cash circulation in their business is by targetting new naira notes which might indirectly start making them reject old notes.
