Hot News#1: Banks are Now Issuing Out Old Naira Notes to Nigerians Again

After weeks of suffering and frustration, Central Bank of Nigeria gives order again for circulation of old Naira notes.
Scarcity of both old and new currency after the redesign of Nigerian currencies has brought a lot of damages to the citizens of Nigeria.

Access Bank, University of Port Harcourt Branch

Let's read in detail how it started.
After years of using old Naira notes, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor came up with an announcement of redesigning 200, 500 and 1000 Naira notes on 26th October 2022. Below where is reasons;

• To strengthen Nigeria economy
• Increase in supply of clean notes
• Decrease the expenditure especially on cash management
• Improve financial inclusion in the country
• Raise a value to assist the CBN's visibility of the money supply

What Happened after Redesign of Naira Notes?

The new notes started circulating from 15th December 2022 alongside with the old notes. The old notes was to remain legal tender and circulate together with the new note until 31st January 2023. After the designing of Nigerian currency, Nigerians across different states have been struggling to get hold of it from different banks and even ATM cash point.

Since the citizens were unable to have access to the new note after returning the old notes to the banks, Nigerians were now facing scarcity of cash. Everyone struggled to withdraw cash but couldn't and even the bank Apps got most of us stranded because the Apps needed to be fixed. No way to transfer or receive money. This brought chaos because naira notes were rare to get.

The redesign of the naira note came with negative impacts on the citizens. Businesses were lost, there was high cost-of-living, hunger came in because people were not given access to their money, high cost of transportation and even death because of hospital bills payment.

What is the Good News ( Hot News) Now?
The latest update is that Supreme Court has given order for the old notes to remain legal tender until 31st December 2023.
After a week of receiving court order, the Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN) also direct all banks to start cash withdrawal.

People queuing for cash withdrawal

I visited the bank on 16th March 2023 and I noticed that banks were giving out just the old notes. The highest you can withdraw for now is 20,000 naira.

ATM machine still shot down

No money yet in the ATM machine, Nigerians are only allowed to withdraw inside the bank. This is one of the greatest news any Nigerian will hear because for the past weeks, Nigerians were totally frustrated and down due to the naira note scarcity.

Thank you for creating time to read through my hot news today. I will invite @ruthjoe, @ciru2014 and @nadiaturrina to join the contest.

Photographer: @adylinah