Residents of Ilorin, the Kwara State capital have expressed concern over the decision of some business owners to reject old naira notes during transactions.
The rejection of the old notes of N1000, N500 and N200 following the currency swap policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), came amidst the Supreme Court ruling that old naira notes should remain legal tenders in the country.
The apex court ruling was sequel to a motion exparte of three States of Kaduna, Zamfara and Kogi, which opposed the currency swap of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Investigation conducted in Ilorin at the weekend indicated that some business establishments declined to accept old naira notes to the dismay of customers.
A visit to the office of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) at Challenge Area of Ilorin revealed that two officials on duty rejected the old naira notes paid to them by customers, who wanted to pay for the electricity bills.The two officials both male and female insisted that they were acting on the directive from the IBEDC Headquarters.
An electricity consumer, Alhaji Ibrahim Adeola, whose old currency was rejected at the point of payment, described the attitude of the IBEDC officials as strange.
Adeola said he was surprised that a major company like the electricity firm could turn down old naira notes in spite of the ruling of the Supreme Court to maintain the status quo.
Another consumer, Mr John Titus, who also suffered similar fate in the hands of the IBEDC officials, urged the federal government to comply with the ruling of the apex court on the continued acceptability of old naira notes as legal tenders during businesses.
It was observed that some electricity consumers, who were cash-trapped but wanted to make use of Point of Sales (PoS) machines, waited for a long period at the Challenge Business Office of IBEDC as a result of unavailability of service on the PoS machine.
Meanwhile, the Kwara State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria and federal government to make definite pronouncement on the Supreme Court ruling that allowed the continued acceptability of old naira notes as legal tenders.The state Chairman of NUJ, Abdullateef ‘Lanre Ahmed, stated this while speaking to newsmen at the weekend.
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