Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state, Northern Nigeria has asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to extend the January 31st deadline for the acceptance of the old Naira notes.
Gatekeepers News reports that El-Rufai stated that many rural dwellers who do not have access to financial services will be most affected by the decision, adding that the timing is too short.
El-Rufai in an interview with reporters in Kubau local government area in the State insisted that local farmers and traders in most of the communities in the state can’t meet up with the CBN deadline on depositing their old Naira notes.
The Governor noted that some of the local government areas do not have any bank presence, and therefore are not financially included.
While he expressed support for the redesigning of the currency by the CBN, El-Rufai says that the rural communities must be given more opportunities to exchange their old Naira notes.
The Kaduna Governor stressed that access to bank branches is limited in rural communities and therefore charges the central Bank and other financial institutions to find a way of swapping the old Naira notes in the rural communities.
