By Tina George, Minna
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has sensitized traders of the Kure Ultramodern Market in Minna, Niger state on the currency redesign.
It also emphasized that the January 31st deadline for the withdrawal of old banknotes remains sacrosanct.
Speaking to the traders on Tuesday, the Niger Branch Controller, Ademola Mohammed Saheed said that the sensitization was holding simultaneously at Lagos, Abeokuta, Gombe, Kano, Asaba, Onitsha, Abuja, and Minna.
According to him, the traders are the real stakeholders who need the sensitization as they handle transactions with money on daily basis.
Ademola said that the currency redesign is to encourage the cashless policy of the government and deemphasize the consistent use of heavy cash transactions.
“We are not going back to the old ways of swimming in cash; we are trying to move away from heavy cash transactions.
“We are encouraging everyone to explore other channels of paying and transacting business. Cash cannot be eradicated but we are trying to deemphasize the use of cash.”
He maintained that the January 31st deadline for the withdrawal of old banknotes remained sacrosanct except decided otherwise by the CBN Governor or the federal government.
He assured the traders who complained that the new banknotes were not in circulation, that the CBN has more than enough new banknotes in its treasury.
“For six weeks now, we have not been giving the banks the old currency. The old currency still in circulation is there because of the quantum which is so much. We have been giving banks new currency to dispense and we have been calling them to come and collect the new banknotes as we have them in the treasury.”
He then urged the traders to explore other options for payment or transacting business, adding that a lot can be done without the use of cash.
A staff of the Currency Operations Department, Hauwa Ndayako told the traders to visit their commercial banks to deposit the old notes while those without bank accounts were encouraged to open accounts in banks of their choice.
She stressed that there is no limit to deposits of N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes an individual or corporate body can make during the transition period that expires January 31st.
The traders of the market appealed to the CBN to extend the January 31st deadline for the withdrawal of the old banknotes from circulation.
According to them, several traders are not yet aware of the use of the new banknotes, especially as banks and ATMs across the state are still dispensing the old banknotes.
