By Kate Halim

On Friday, March 3, the Supreme Court of Nigeria ruled that old N500 and N1000 notes should continue to be used as legal tender until December 31 2023. While some banks are paying their customers with old naira notes, a lot of Nigerians are rejecting them after business transactions.

Saturday Sun spoke to some Nigerians and they revealed why they reject or accept old naira notes.

I won’t accept old naira notes until Buhari says it’s okay

-Simeon Victoria, freelance Proofreader

I’m not accepting old naira notes from anyone for now until the Central Bank and the Presidency says we can. I won’t take it because people in my area reject it because the president hasn’t said anything about it even on television. That’s what happens when a president doesn’t obey court orders. The kind of stress this cash crunch is causing people is better imagined. For now, I won’t accept old notes until I hear from the president that it is okay to use them.

I accept and spend old notes

– Godwin Dania, Businessman

I accept old notes and collect them from people too because right now, we don’t have an alternative. The new notes are nowhere to be found. Banks are only giving limited amounts of money to their many customers who desperately need cash for their day-to-day activities. The banks in my area are paying people with old notes so I have no choice but to collect the money and spend it.

Banks pay out old notes but don’t accept them

– Gela Ogbonna, content creator

I collected N5,000 this week and I’m still with it because it’s useless to me. When I give it to people, they reject it. Market women reject it. Bus drivers reject it. It is annoying that some banks are giving their customers old naira notes but they don’t collect the same old naira notes if you want to deposit.

I don’t accept old notes for now

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– Chidinma Peach, Businesswoman

I don’t accept old notes from people for now. I don’t have money to play with. I stopped accepting cash payments in my business for a long time now. I prefer my customers to pay through mobile bank transfers or use the POS machine. For now, I only accept N200 and N100 naira notes. 

I don’t accept old naira notes; people won’t collect them from me
– Ijeoma Paul, caterer

I don’t accept old naira notes because people won’t collect them from me. I have N5000 in old notes and the money is useless to me now. Bus drivers reject old money. Food sellers reject them. Even market women will ask you if you want to give them old notes or new notes before they sell something to you. POS operators are feasting on us too. The suffering is too much. I almost cried on Tuesday when I had to pay N4000 to withdraw N10,000 from a POS operator in my street. I don’t know what this government wants us to do now.

Since people reject old naira notes, I stopped accepting them 

– Okoro Ruth, shoemaker 

I’m not accepting or giving out old naira notes for now. This week, a lot of people rejected the old notes I offered them. I also stopped accepting it from people who are obeying the Supreme Court ruling. I will wait until President Buhari addresses the issue before I start accepting them again. I don’t want to be stranded with the old notes because anything can happen in this country.

I accept old naira notes

– Angela Chukwuma, Businesswoman

I accept the old notes from my customers. The new naira notes are scarce and I need money to take care of myself. We are the cause of our problems in this country. Why are people rejecting the old naira notes when the new notes are not in circulation? We have to help ourselves go through this difficult period and stop making things hard for one another. I hope this cash crunch comes to an end soon because the current situation is not funny.

I have stopped accepting old notes until further notice

– Blessing Njoku, Businesswoman

I collected N10,000 old notes from the bank two days ago and till now, I can’t spend it. People are rejecting it. I have stopped accepting old naira notes from my customers until further notice. The new naira notes are scarce and we can’t even spend the old notes. Where are we headed in this country? Why should one have money in the bank and can’t spend it? This situation is not funny anymore.