Supermarkets, shops, eateries now refusing old naira notes ahead of deadline
Ahead of the January 31st deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria for the cessation of the circulation of old naira notes, shops, supermarkets, small businesses, and merchants have started to reject the notes.
According to findings, businesses have started sending out text messages, social media posts, and all forms of notifications to their customers of their intention to stop receiving old naira notes ahead of the deadline date.
For example, Cold stone creamy, a popular ice cream brand has informed its numerous customers via social media platform Twitter that they will stop accepting old naira notes from January 27, 2023.
“Important notice‼‼. Following the Central Bank of Nigeria announcement on the redesigned Naira notes, Cold Stone Creamery NG will stop accepting the old naira notes (N200, N500, and N1000), effective from January 27th, 2023”
Mega supermarket chain Spar also informed customers that starting from January 25, 2023, it will no longer receive old naira notes from customers.
A notice pasted at the entrance of the supermarket at its Opebi outlet states that customers who wish to pay using the old naira notes have until January 25 to do so, or they would have to use their debit cards or pay via QR codes.
A field survey conducted by our research team suggests a growing number of small businesses have either started rejecting the old naira notes outrightly or have set date their own deadline dates.
Why the refusal?
Some of the businesses explain their reason for stopping the collection of old notes ahead of the deadline was to allow them time to deposit all their old notes before January 31st.
Failure to deposit the notes exposes them to possible losses as they will end up with counterfeit notes that are no longer legal tender.