The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has appealed to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for a “slight extension” of the January 31 deadline on old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes.
Atiku made the plea in a video posted on Twitter on Saturday, saying the large number of the “unbanked”, especially in the rural area, will find it almost impossible to exchange their old banknotes for the redesigned currency in time.
“I’m aware of the challenges that farmers and others, like artisans, in remote areas of the country go through in moving cash from remote areas to commercial banks for conversion.
“On this note, I’m compelled to align my position with the upsurge of demands for a slight extension of the monetary conversion policy.
“The January 31st deadline will certainly cause a heavy discomfort on our people and it will be magnanimous on the part of government and regulatory agencies to ease the burden on the people in the public interest,” he said.
The former Vice President noted that though the exercise is not strange to Nigeria, a great number of Nigerians, out of good conscience, have expressed apprehension about how the deadline will make life more difficult for a large number of Nigerians.
“While we can continue to sensitise the public on the impending imperative of mobile banking policy, it is important for the CBN to consider an extension of time that the public can convert their unbanked monies into new notes thereby reducing the financial consequences on these vulnerable citizens.
“I believe such a painful experience is not the intention behind the currency redesign initiative,” he said.