NLC Calls For Extension Of Old Naira Notes Deadline

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has supported the Senate’s request to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to extend its January 31 deadline to phase out old notes in circulation in the country.

NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, revealed this on Thursday in Abuja, saying the Senate directive for the extension of the deadline was appropriate.

He said majority of Nigerians who live in remote areas where banks do not exist were yet to access the new Naira notes.

“We have tried to respond officially by writing to the CBN governor. We also wrote to the President to say that this new policy of changing our Naira needs to be revisited.

“It is obvious that even in the city centres, banks are still dispensing old notes and this is not correct. I remember, I went to about 10 banks and none was actually dispensing the new notes.

“In fact, most of the banks now, if you are lucky, they will dispense only few notes and you can check that around.

“So the new notes are not available and they are not in circulation and the old notes are being rejected.”

He said the situation the rural areas is chaotic as the rural folks find it difficult to change their money.

Wabba said the was haunting the people, and therefore called on the Federal Government to look at the issue carefully before it snowballs into a major crisis in the country.

He said the new notes were not easily available. “There are only few in circulation. It is worse in rural areas as most of the rural areas don’t have banks.

“The state I come from in the entire states. You have only three banks in three local government out of 27 local government areas in the state I come from.

Wabba is from Borno State.

He said ”All the other local governments, 24 of them, do not have banks and some of them are not accessible,” he said.

Wabba said government must think through the new Naira policy in order for the people not to suffer the consequences of the policy.

”It is the poor masses and even the working class that will feel the pinch of this policy. Because how will you not withdrawal the old currencies when the new one is not even available.

”The policy, certainly, will also impact negatively on our economy, because the notes are not available and people are now rejecting the old notes.

”The policy certainly is not a policy that is making people to believe that the policy is meant to address the fundamental issues.

”We align ourselves fully with the position of the Senate, we call for this policy to be reviewed and to give extension, so that all the old notes can then be mopped up by the bank,” he added.