On Sunday, January 29, 2023, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) extended the previous January 31 deadline for the phasing out of old naira notes by 10 days.

Prior to the announcement, Osun residents had had to endure the arduous task of queuing for long hours at ATM galleries in an attempt to beat the January deadline. Despite this, many of them were unable to get the new notes. For those who resorted to POS terminals, they had to pay extra charges in exchange for the new notes.

On the evening of Saturday, January 28, before I settled in inside the minibus I boarded within Osogbo, the driver had asked for payment in either the new banknotes or denominations below N200.

READ ALSO: REPORTER’S DIARY: In Osogbo, I Paid N500 to Get 5 New Naira Notes

While I was going to church the next day, I gave the bike man one old N200 note and a N100 note. I’d jokingly asked if he had the new notes so I could give him N1000 new banknote and get my ‘change’. But he replied in the negative.

“New notes scarce o,” he told me in Yoruba language.

‘NO NEW NOTES, DON’T ENTER’

As I headed to the park in the Aregbe area of Osogbo, Osun State, at about 12:30 pm on Sunday, little did I know that the new bank notes I had withdrawn from a POS merchant would be my saving grace.

I was going to Iwo Road park in Ibadan, from where I would then board another vehicle to Lagos State. I entered the white bus destined for Ibadan. I knew the transport fare would not be up to N2000, so I did not bother to ask for the price.

I was about to drop my backpack inside the boot because I thought four passengers would sit in each row when one of the conductors said I could take any of the two back seats.

“Those two seats are three, three, but the two seats at the front are four, four,” he said while pointing to one of the back seats.

There were about 6 passengers seated already, but the last seat was still unoccupied, so I sat at the rear seat beside the left-wing window. I was also able to secure a space for my bag beside me.

A few minutes after that, I heard another conductor say, “We are not collecting old notes o. If you want to use the POS, use it now.”

I was shocked, not because I did not have the new notes but because the deadline to return old notes had been extended just that morning.

I had seen the news while I was in church, and I was sure many Nigerians would have learnt about the latest information.

“How can you ask us to pay in new notes when the CBN has extended the deadline? What if I only have the old notes?” asked one of the passengers.

“No body will collect it o. I have told you already,” the conductor curtly responded.

By this time, the announcement had caused an upraor among the passengers. I saw a lady and a man step out of the bus. When they returned about 10 minutes later, I learnt that they had gone to some of the nearby POS merchants.

From what the two passengers said, many of the POS vendors don’t even have the new notes. To get new notes from the one or two vendors around, one of the duo (the man) said he paid N6000 to get N5000.

I was surprised because I had transferred N5500 to a POS merchant in Osogbo in exchange for new N5000 banknotes the previous day. Also, in the evening of that Saturday, I heard someone paid N1000 to get N10,000 from another POS merchant.

After a series of back and forth between enraged passengers and indifferent conductors, each of us paid N1500 in the new banknotes.

FUEL STATION SAYS NO TO OLD NOTES

The bus left the park at about 1:24 pm. The driver took a detour to Admus Filling Station in Akoda Ede to buy some petrol.

Then I heard the petrol station’s attendant tell the driver that he must pay with the new banknotes.

“Why?”

“We are no longer accepting the old notes,” the fuel station attendant said in response to the driver’s inquiry.

THE IRONY AND THE HYPOCRISY

Surprisingly, the street and traffic traders right in front of the filling station were still accepting the old notes.

One of the women beside me bought African cherry from a girl, and she collected the old N200 note from her without hassle.

Some of the other passengers commented on this incident, wondering why the Osogbo transport worker were bent on rejecting the old notes as though they were forbidden fruits.

As we got to Ibadan around 3:00 pm, an ironical but interesting incident took place.

This Osogbo driver was to deliver some items to some residents in Ibadan. It is common for Nigerians to pay drivers to pick up and drop off items in a pattern similar to logistics services.

The only difference is that while logistics companies give customers the option of home delivery, commercial drivers don’t. The ‘pickers’ must pick up their items at mutually agreed parks.

READ ALSO: REPORTER’S DIARY: Lagos ATMs Now Dispense New Banknotes, But ‘Lagosians’ Are Still Starved of Cash

The driver had called two people to meet up with him in the A.A. Rano area of Ibadan. Each of them were to pay N1500. However, rather than mandate them to give him new naira notes, he collected the old notes without complaining.

Some of the passengers who observed this could not keep mute.

“They gave you old notes, and you collected it from them. But while we were in Osogbo, you people were crying for new notes,” said one passenger.

In his defense, the driver said, “I don’t have the time to tell them to get new notes.”

IBADAN DRIVERS

At Iwo park, I did not experience the new note challenge.

Immediately I entered the bus, which had only two passengers at the time, I asked the conductor if I could pay my fare with the old notes.

“Yes o. CBN has already extended the deadline. We are accepting both the new and old notes,” said the conductor.

I was hungry at this point, so I decided to get some roasted plantains nearby. I held a new N1000 note and asked the seller if she had new notes as well.

“There is no new note o, and I cannot queue for now. If you have the old note, you can use it to pay for the plantains,” the woman told me.

In the end, I bought two roasted plantains, and I paid with two N100 notes.