Ahead of the Jan. 31 deadline for the obsolete Naira banknotes to be demolished, Anambra residents besieged banks and markets in the region’s major cities.
Our correspondent who toured some of the major cities of Onitsha, Oboshi, Nunewi and Awka on Saturday found that redesigned naira notes are in short supply and that most traders are trying to avoid collecting old notes. I observed that the store was forced to close. mainly distributed.
Little to no patronage was seen by those who started the business, as they refused to collect old naira notes.
This is similar to how residents resorted to panic buying groceries and other sundries to avoid being stuck Monday as a result of the stay-at-home order.
In commercial banks, automated teller machines were overrun, even though most of the machines still issued old naira notes. We also saw PoS operators handing out old notes to customers.
It was collected that merchants, business owners, and craftsmen claimed to be paid with new bills.
Some of the residents who spoke with our correspondent lamented that they were at home the Monday before the deadline, so they might not be able to use their old notes after the weekend if they didn’t use them up. , if there is no opportunity to make a deal.
Onitsha resident Chinwe Odume expressed concern about the inability of commercial banks in the region to issue new naira banknotes as per instructions from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Otsume said, “When there were no more crowds at the bank teller, I didn’t know what my fate would be from today onwards, so I went to the market with old banknotes to buy groceries.
“In the Southeast, people work from home on Monday and then Tuesday, so if you don’t use old banknotes today, it may be very difficult to use them on Tuesday.”
Two Nnewi market respondents, James Uko and Gloria Nwaobu, complained about the development, saying they had no choice but to resort to panic buying to use up old banknotes before Tuesday’s deadline.
They lamented that PoS vendors in the region are holding new banknotes in bulk and collecting N13,000 in old banknotes in exchange for N10,000 in new currency.
There was also drama in Onitsha Park early on Friday. Some passengers who did not have new banknotes were stranded because commercial bus operators refused to collect old banknotes for payment.
It took the intervention of some motorpark officials for bus operators to start collecting old notes when stranded commuters began to mourn.
An Onitsha courier named Okechukwu Onu said: old note.
“So what we’re doing is also protecting ourselves from being stuck by Tuesday.”