Residents of Ilorin Kwara State capital, have expressed mixed feelings over the Presidential directive that only the old N200 notes will be valid as legal tender.
A cross-section of the residents in the state capital who spoke to DAILY POST on Friday, complained bitterly that while the idea was a welcome development, the timing of its implementation was faulty.
Some also criticized the conflicting directives and news items carried on the naira swap policy while others condemned the deviance of the Federal government by not respecting and obeying the ruling of the Supreme Court of Nigeria which restrained both the government and the Central Bank of Nigeria from the current action taken to declare the old N500 and N1,000 notes obsolete.
In his reaction, Tajudeen Balogun of Araoje filling station, in Ilorin, asked the Central Bank to flood the economy with the old N200 naira notes to allow businesses flourish, since it is difficult to access the other higher denominations of N500 and N1,000 notes.
He also cautioned commercial banks in the state against hoarding the available naira notes to reduce the hardship facing the people.
Another customer of one of the commercial banks in Ilorin, who requested anonymity, said he was given a tally number 75 when he arrived at the Ilorin branch of the Central Bank on Thursday at about 6am but could not get his money deposited until the evening when they were asked to come back the following day.
A woman, who also spoke to DAILY POST at the Central Bank, Ilorin where a multitude of people were seen outside waiting to be attended to, rained curses on the policy of the federal government as she complained of hardship inflicted on her family by the policy.
Also reacting, Umatr Abubakar, a staff of Real Gold filling station who spoke with DAILY POST at the central bank premises, in Ilorin, faulted the policy, especially on how to deposit the old naira notes.
He said it was wrong of the CBN to ask customers to deposit the old notes with the bank, instead of commercial banks where individuals have their bank accounts.
“We have gone through hell to lodge our deposits, for instance, I collected tally number 800 on Thursday when I came to the central bank and we were asked to come back on Friday as only 170 people were attended to.
“We were here at the central bank on Friday from 4am and I got tally number 20 but up till I am speaking with you at 9am, we are yet to scale through the process,” Umar added.
Another aggrieved citizen, Abioye Samuel, who claimed to be an Ilorin-based commercial Okada rider, said as a customer of Keystone bank, he was told he could not collect above N2,500 across the counter.
He said he was told that he could only collect about N10,000 cash through the ATM machines outside the bank.
“Even those who had collected the N10,000 from the ATM were not allowed to collect more across the counter,” he added.
Abioye revealed that customers with old naira notes were attended to on Wednesday but those who went to the bank on Thursday were not that lucky following President Muhammadu Buhari’s nationwide broadcast on the naira swap policy on Thursday.
He said “I have nothing to do or say except that I am the owner of my money in the bank, you can’t tell me I can’t collect it.
“I want to repair my commercial motorcycle and pay my house rent but since I can’t access my money, what do I do.?
“I swear to almighty God, that I have only N100 with me which I have used to buy puff-puff, and my wife has asked me to come back home and not collect anything again,” he added.
Abioye, however, appealed to the government to rescue the suffering citizens to have access to their monies in the bank.
Reactions trail new directive on naira swap in Kwara, as scarcity continues
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