The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has appealed to the Federal Government of Nigeria to extend the deadline for the expiration and collection of old Naira notes in the country.
This is contained in a statement issued by Mallam Bello Galadanci, Publicity Secretary, ACF, Kano State Chapter, on Saturday.
The statement which was monitored by Africa Today News, New York said the January 31 deadline set by the Federal Government had almost grounded socio-economic activities in the state.
It added that people’s refusal to accept the old naira notes in commercial transactions out of fear of possible inability to deposit the notes in commercial banks is causing untold hardship to the masses.
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‘This has currently made life more difficult for ordinary citizens, because banks, up till today, still give out the old naira notes to customers with the deadline only a few days away.
‘We appeal to the Federal Government to reconsider its decision by extending the 31st January deadline for the expiration of old naira notes to enable residents to swap their old naira with the new naira notes,‘ the statement said.
Recall that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has reiterated his earlier stance that the CBN will not shift grounds to extend the January 31st deadline for the old naira notes.
Africa Today News, New York reports that there have been calls from different quarters for the extension of the deadline in view of some challenges.
However, while speaking at the post-Monetary Policy Committee briefing of the bank in Abuja on Tuesday, Emefiele said, ‘I don’t have good news for those who want deadline of old naira to be changed because we will not move it.
‘People are holding and vaulting the naira in their houses and they don’t have the license to do that, because they use it to speculate on the naira.’
He said the apex bank has so far mopped up about N1.5 trillion, hoping to achieve about N2 trillion before the deadline.