Last minute rush as Bauchi residents scramble for redesigned Naira notes

With three days to the deadline for the old N200, N500 and N1000 currency notes to cease circulation as legal tenders, residents of Toro and Gumau in Bauchi State have appealed to the apex bank to consider extending the deadline.

Some rural dwellers interviewed by AIT concurred with the demand of members of the National Assembly for an extension of the deadline, urging President Muhammadu Buhari and the Central Bank Governor to do so for the benefit of rural dwellers.

A team of the apex bank led by the Director Medical Services Department, Jibrin Abdulkadir were in Toro Local Government to inspect its agents that are swapping the old Naira notes with the re-designed ones.

Many of the rural dwellers who have no bank accounts were seen coming with their old Naira notes not above ten thousand for swap as directed by the bank.

It’s the same thing in Gumau. In one of the Swap points, a mammoth crowd of both young adults and women from the different communities struggled to swap their old Naira notes with the re-designed ones.

The leader of the assessment team of the CBN said the swap exercise has helped in moping millions of Naira from the rural areas that don’t have banks.

He encouraged them to hurry up and deposit their money before the deadline elapses.

As it is now, Toro Local Government Area has forty Swap agents who are expected to aid in the swapping of the old Naira notes before 31st January 2023.