Osun State governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, has warned commercial Banks to stop issuing old naira notes for withdrawal, if they will not accept same as deposits.
Declaring that the current pain being inflicted on the people must stop, the governor called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to call the commercial banks to order.
Adeleke, in a release by his spokesperson, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, decried the maltreatment of residents of the state by banks which refused to collect old currency notes, even after paying customers with old notes.
Lamenting the pains and suffering of residents, he narrated the many complaints of bank customers who accused the banks of refusing deposits of old notes as well as the attendant negative consequences on the populace.
Governor Adeleke further stated that he has received several calls from bank customers across the state.
“The deliberate refusal of banks to collect old notes,” he said, “is creating serious economic complications for residents of the state.”
“For the banks to issue old notes and refuse to accept old notes as deposit is highly unacceptable,” he added.
Governor Adeleke consequently called on the management of the Central Bank of Nigeria to direct the banks operating in the state to correct the anomalies.
“The state Director of the CBN is specifically requested to direct the banks to halt this unhealthy practice.
“If banks will not accept old notes as deposits, they must stop issuing old notes for withdrawal.
“The current pain being inflicted on our people must stop,” Governor Adeleke declared in the release.
There have unbearable pains and sufferings by Nigerians, across all strata, because of the cash crunch occasioned by the cashless policy of the CBN.
There have also been reported cases of death occasioned by the hardship, even as confusion and controversy rage over the status of the old N1000 and N500 notes as legal tender.
