…CBN meets Sokoto traders over rejection of old notes

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sokoto branch on Tuesday met with leaders of business communities in Sokoto State over the rejection of old naira notes by their members.

Daily Trust reported that many business owners, especially in the state’s metropolis had been rejecting old notes with some of them closing their business premises, a situation that was causing untold hardship among the residents of the state.

Our reporter also gathered that commercial motorcyclists and some filling stations had started rejecting them.

Briefing newsmen, the CBN branch comptroller, Dahiru Usman, said the meeting was called to allay the fears of the traders.

“We discovered that many traders have been rejecting our legal tender even before the January 31 deadline and this is causing hardship among the residents of the state.

“We invited their leaders and they told us their reason for doing so but we assured them there is no need for that as we are working to ensure no businessman loses his money because of this policy.

“We are meeting with banks’ managers today before the closing of the office. We will direct them to dedicate more hands and time to the business communities because they deposit a huge sum of money. With this, we are confident of mopping up all the old naira notes on or even before the deadline,” he said

Usman added that there were enough redesigned naira notes for dispensing in the state.

Earlier, the Secretary General of the Sokoto Marketers Association, Alhaji Abubakar Altine, hinged their decision to reject old naira notes on the difficulty in depositing money in their banks’ accounts due to the influx of depositors who wanted to meet up with the CBN deadline.

“But we have rest of mind now. We will tell our members to continue collecting old naira notes without any fear,” he said