Banking halls across the country are regaining their serenity lost during the nationwide cash crisis that hit Deposit Money Banks as they have began dispensing and accepting old N500 and N1000 notes.
This is in compliance with the directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, which declared the old notes as legal tender following a Supreme Court judgment two weeks ago.
The CBN on Tuesday after much hesitation had directed banks to comply with the Supreme Court ruling that the old notes remain legal tender alongside the redesigned notes till December 31, 2023.
As a result banks began to accept the old N500 and N1,000 notes from customers without requesting for the CBN cash return reference code. This has restored calm in many banking halls which had hitherto witnessed a lot of rancor and violence.
Apart from the banks, other business owners have started to accept the old notes. Notable among them are transporters who have joined others to accept the old notes despite their initial resistance.
However, there are still banks that have not fully opened their doors to customers or loaded their ATM machines with either the old or new notes.
The Nigerian Xpress visited many banks in Ikeja, Lagos yesterday and confirmed that many of them have started accepting the old Naira notes and at the same time giving them out to customers.
