Biola Azeez
Commercial banks in Kwara state on Monday stopped swapping or collecting old naira notes from bank customers who visited banks to deposit money.
The bank customers, who visited banks to deposit money in banks included newspaper distribution officers, traders, business operators, among other individuals in the state.
The development, which was noticed early Monday morning in some of the leading commercial banks in the state capital, caught bank customers unawares as they expressed rude shock over the development.
The people said that old Naira notes and the redesigned Naira notes had been used to transact business among people in major markets and transporters in the state early part of Monday, adding that banks should have notified customers.
Investigations also revealed that bank officials had advised some traders and business operators, identified as big-time customers, in the state last Friday, to stop collecting old naira notes from people who patronize them for business transaction.
It was gathered that the piece of advice was borne out of the February 10 deadline given by the CBN before the Supreme Court ruling.
Meanwhile, in separate telephone interviews with some commercial bank managers in the state capital, they said that their banks had stopped collecting or swapping old naira notes since Friday.
It is recalled that some commercial banks in the state had closed operation since last week Wednesday, in what many ascribed to shortage of new naira notes or security reasons.
