Nigeria: Residents in Kaduna Flood Banks In Search of New Naira Notes

By Joshua Samuel Residents of Kaduna swarmed banks on Wednesday, clamoring for the new currency notes and criticizing the refusal of traders of all basic commodities to conduct business using the older ones. According to PanAfricanVisions, some lucky clients were given fresh notes in exchange for their old bills, while others were sent away and told to deposit their money until more money became available. At the Kaduna central market, food vendor Suleiman Ayuba claimed he attempted to exchange his N700,000 for new notes but was instead instructed to open an account and deposit his money. Ayuba exclaimed, "I need the money for my business, I need to buy more things to sell, but they refused to change it, so I went," while speaking angrily. Rose Moses, a small-time trader, claimed she also put 500,000 into her account but was told she couldn't take all of her money out when she went to the bank the following day. "I made a deposit and returned the next day to withdraw the funds. However, the manager informed me that they were out of cash. This is cash from my business. Moses James, a taxi driver, claimed that since Monday, he has refused to accept the old notes since he does not have a bank account.  The branch does not have enough of the new notes from the CBN, a bank management in one of the commercial banks told Pan African Visions in confidence. He claimed that new notes are only given to bank customers before being exchanged for older ones. He claimed he instructed the cashier's employees to only serve customers and advised individuals in need of fresh currency to first open a bank account,