Aggrieved residents began another round of protests in Edo and Delta states over the scarcity of the new N200, N500, N1,000 notes and rejection of the old naira bills.
Gatekeepers News reports that on Wednesday, angry protesters took to the streets along Akpakpava road in Benin, Edo state and Udu, Delta State to protest against the scarcity of the new naira notes in the country
Roads were closed down as tyres were burnt in the middle of the road, stones hurled at banks and banks burnt as residents showed their grievances.
Udu roundabout was blocked by angry protesters over the scarcity of cash. A bank’s ATM gallery in Udu Local Government Area was burnt.
Meanwhile, the Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa has appealed for calm and patience.
Okowa’s appeal was contained in a statement by the State Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu.
He called on the people to remain calm while also appealing to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the monetary authorities to take further steps in increasing the money supply in the system.
“We appeal to our brothers and sisters across the state to keep calm in spite of the current travails they are going through as a result of the scarcity of naira notes in the country,” the statement read in part.
“As a government, we are not unaware of your sufferings but we appeal to you to be patient with the monetary authorities as they take steps to improve the money supply in the country.
“We are very much aware of your pains and concerns, but burning down a bank that employs our people will not augur well for us as a nation even as it will not also solve the problem but will further compound the situation.
“Once again, we appeal to you all to sheath your swords while we continue to engage the cbn to ensure more funds are released to the banks in the country.”
Chaos broke out across various banks on Akpakpava road in Benin City, the Edo State capital, following what some eyewitnesses described as an inability to access cash at the banks.
Bonfires were started by angry residents along the road.Some of the angry residents claimed that shootings led to the death of some persons who had visited the banks for cash withdrawals.
This comes less than two weeks after residents of Ibadan, Oyo State and Abeokuta, Ogun State took to the streets in protest against the hardship triggered by the naira notes swap and fuel price hike.
The protests were in reaction to banks nationwide refusing the old currency in line with a position taken by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), although the Supreme Court had ruled that the apex bank’s February 10 deadline be suspended temporarily.
The position has since led to a standoff between the CBN and the governors of various states, including Kano and Ogun.
Gatekeepers News earlier reported that the case has been adjourned by the Supreme Court till February 22 for hearing of the consolidated suits by 10 states.
States including Katsina, Lagos, Cross Rivers, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, and Sokoto States as co-plaintiffs in the suit challenging the Naira Redesign policy of the Federal Government.
While Edo and Bayelsa states were joined by the Apex court in support of the Federal Government on implementation of the naira swap policy.
The six states in their respective motions for joinder pitched their tents with the three aggrieved states, Kaduna, Zamfara, and Kogi states that initially ignited the suit.
