Naira redesign: Customers urge CBN to sanction banks not paying N20,000 over the counter

Some bank Customers in Sango-Ota have appealed to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to sanction Money Deposit Banks that are not paying the maximum N20,000 to customers over the counter.

They expressed their views in separate interview with our reporter on Friday in Ota, Ogun.

It was reported that the apex bank on Thursday directed all Deposit Money Banks nationwide to begin to pay newly-designed notes over the counter to customers immediately not exceeding a maximum of N20,000.

Mr Joseph Ogunyemi said that he was in the bank to withdraw money but unfortunately he was able to withdraw only N5,000 over the counter.

Ogunyemi, a trader at Sango-Ota market, alleged that most of the banks in Sango-Ota vicinity had not complied with the new N20,000 maximum withdrawal order.

He added that some of these banks did not even open their entry doors for customers to come into the banking halls while their Automated Teller Machine were not dispensing the new notes.

“This development has almost paralysed business activities because there is no cash flow in the system to make transactions,” he said.

Ogunyemi stressed the need for the apex bank to impose stiffer sanctions on any bank not obeying the regulator’s directive.

He added that this sanction was necessary to ensure equity of the limited cash in the system.

Another bank customer at Sango-Ota, along Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, Kunle Lawal, describe the new CBN directive as a welcome development but most of the banks here are not complying with the directive.

Lawal, also a Point of Sale operator, said that the CBN should not only make directive but they should enforce it to achieve the desired goals.

He added that the challenge of lack of sufficient cash in the economy could totally discourage people from keeping their money in the bank.

The PoS operator said that he urgently needed cash to give to his customers and also make some profit out of the transactions.

Lawal said that one of the banks did not open to customers at the official time because of the large crowd waiting outside.

He said unfortunately the bank was able to give him N5,000 which is not the N20,000 directed by the CBN.

“It is really unfortunate that we found ourselves in such a situation but I believe that the regulator in charge of the banking system should be able to put them on check,” he said.

Our correspondent who monitored the development at Sango-Ota and Oju-Ore areas, observed that large crowd of customers were in front of most banks while their ATMs were not also dispensing cash to customers.