Ahead of the deadline of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, cashless policy, suspected Islamic State of West Africa Province, ISWAP, members have reportedly distributed some huge sums of old naira notes to commuters in the Lake Chad Basin.
The incident reportedly occurred on Saturday, January 28, 2023, along the Maiduguri/Monguno highway after Mairari village in Guzamala LGA of Borno State.
The ISWAP members were said to have driven two gun trucks and dressed in military camouflage.
A resident in the area, Bakura Ibrahim, said the insurgents positioned themselves under a tree and stood by the roadside with bags of old naira notes, Daily Trust reported.
“We left Monguno around 12 noon. As we approached Mairari, there were no existing checkpoints around the area, and we were apprehensive.
“They asked if we were going to Maiduguri, after which they started giving each person N100,000 old notes, but we couldn’t believe it,” he said.
Another source added that the group simply told them to go to banks and change the money to new notes, and ”they said may Allah make it beneficial to you.”
Delta Churches Reject Payment Of Old Naira Notes As Tithes And Offering
Following the January 31 deadline issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, some Churches in Warri and its environs in Delta State during their Sunday services rejected offerings from their members, saying they will no longer accept the old naira notes still in circulation.
Most churches were not filled to capacity due to the hike in petrol price.
Members who do not have the new naira notes couldn’t give offerings either.
The rejection of the old naira notes may affect the account of the churches negatively.
This is coming as most churches announced to their members not to bring the old naira notes to church last Sunday in Warri.
Traders have already rejected the same old naira notes. This has reduced sales for them.
At the time of filing this report on Sunday, January 29, 2023, some crowds besieged some of the banks in Effurun, Uvwie Local Government Area as early as 6am.
The crowds struggled to deposit their old naira notes into their accounts.
Some of the banks that were overtaken by crowds includes, Union Bank, First Bank, United Bank for Africa, UBA, Zenith Bank, Sterling Bank, and First City Monument Bank, FCMB.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria has extended the deadline to February 10 to enable Nigerians swap their old naira notes.
Central Bank Extends Deadline For Swapping Old Naira Notes To February 10
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced a 10-day extension of the deadline for using old naira notes across Nigeria.
Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the apex bank, who spoke to journalists on Sunday, January 29, 2023. morning, said he had the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari for the extension.
The new deadline is now 10 February instead of the former 31 January deadline, he said.
Mr Emefiele spoke at the hometown of Buhari, a village called Daura, Katsina State, after a meeting with the president who is in his home state for official duties.
Mr Emefiele said Nigerians, who are yet to change their naira notes from the old to new ones, now have an opportunity to do so.
He said people must utilize the opportunity because the deadline will not be extended again.
The Central Bank of Nigeria, in October 2022, introduced redesigned 200, 500, and 1000 naira notes and gave a deadline of 31st January for the use of the old notes.
However, the new notes have been scarce, thus leading to calls for an extension.
Mr Emefiele did not elaborate on what the central bank was doing to resolve the scarcity of the new notes.
Source: Daily Post
