Emmanuel Awari, Jalingo
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday said it has intensified efforts to ensure that all rural dwellers in Taraba have their old naira notes swapped to new ones or deposited in banks before the January 31 deadline.
Mr Jackson Imandi, the CBN Deputy Director of Other Financial Institutions, Supervision Department disclosed this to SUMMIT Post in Jalingo after leading a delegation to visit some of the communities in the state.
According to him, the visit to rural communities was also targeted at the Point of Sale, (POS) operators, who were the major points of money transactions for the villagers.
“Within seconds of getting information on our arrival and the reason for the visit, a long queue was created by residents of Madagan Kifi village in Karim-Lamido Local Government Council to swap their old Naira notes
“Many of them have no bank accounts and relied on the currency swap to keep their Hopes alive after the deadline,” he said.
Imande noted that businesses were beginning to shut down in some communities because owners were already rejecting the old notes before the arrival of the CBN delegation.
He explained that the CBN delegations were also at different geopolitical zones in Taraba for the Naira swap exercise to ensure that those at the grassroots do not end up losing businesses and other means of livelihood, due to the inability to access Nigeria’s new currency, before the January 31 deadline.