The new naira notes.
Photo credit: Punching com.
By Dada Ahmed in Lokoja.
Barely six days to the deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), for people to deposit their old naira in the bank in exchange for the new ones, a middle-aged male beggar,on Thursday in Lokoja, kogi state, rejected alms in old naira.
Some of his colleagues who still believe in the adage that “a beggar has no choice”, accept such alms from concern members of the public with cold shoulder.
Our Correspondent, who was at the old market on Thursday, where beggars cluster for alms, was shocked when he gave old N200 to a beggar asked him to take N 50 and return to him N150 change but the beggar politely turned down the offer.
The man, simply called Mal.Abubakar(lame), responded politely in rejecting our Correspondent’s gesture by saying in local dialect,”Thank you my friend, if I collect this money from youI, I will not be able to use the money to buy food.
“I understand that some food sellers have started rejecting the old naira,he said.
He said that apart from his physical disability that debarred from going to be the bank to money,if any, he had no bank account in the first place.
Our Correspondent reports that some operators of small business establishments and petty traders in the area also known to have rejected the old naira from those buying their products.
The Reporters’ correspondent,who visited some banks in the state capital, reports that though some of them dispensed the new naira denominations on Thursday, many customers could not get the money as population outweighed the supply.
Vitually all the Point of Sales POSs, our Correspondent visited were seen dispensing the old naira, saying that banks could not avail them new naira.
Some members of the public who spoke with our Correspondent on the issue joined the Senate in reiterating the call for the Central Bank of Nigeia,CBN, to rescind its on the January 31 deadline on naira notes.
They complained that they were having problem buying goods as many sellers refused to accept the old naira from them.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele says no going back on the deadline, saying that the apex bank had given enough time for people with old naira notes to take them to banks in exchange for the new ones.
