Abubakar Sani Bello, the governor of Niger State, has ordered the state’s security services to detain anyone rejecting the old Naira notes right away.
According to a statement made by Ahmed Ibrahim Matane, secretary to the State Government (SSG), old Naira notes of N1,000, N500, and N200 are still legal and anybody who refuses to accept them shall be dealt with in accordance with the law.
The SSG claims that “certain persons and traders are rejecting the old Naira notes from the population, a phenomenon that is not healthy and as a result causes undisclosed hardship on the people of the state.”
Ahmed Matane called on the populace to go about their legitimate business while reporting anyone who refuses to accept the old Naira notes to security agencies for necessary action. He warned that the old Naira notes are still valid and that anyone found rejecting them shall be arrested and prosecuted.
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The Kano State administration has threatened to take action against anyone who refuses to accept the old naira notes as a form of payment and to cancel the operating licences of significant company owners.
The old naira notes are still legal money, according to Ganduje, who issued the warning in a statement released by Malam Muhammad Garba, the commissioner for information and internal affairs.
He said that the Supreme Court had made clear that the old naira notes will continue to be accepted as lawful money alongside the new ones until a gradual and complete phase-out.
The governor said that the government had learned that several business owners, including supermarkets, malls, banks, restaurants, hotels, vendors in marketplaces, filling stations, and motor parks, among others, had a practise of refusing to accept old naira notes in payment for goods and services.
Ganduje said that this refusal by a few self-centered people is aggravating the already stressful situation brought on by the lack of fresh naira notes.
The statement continued, “Business and economic operations are gravely impacted by the naira redesign, but regrettably some self-centered persons are profiting from the crisis to put even more suffering on the populace by refusing to accept the old naira notes in transactions.
He claimed that the people had already gone through enough suffering and that the state government would not let a few self-centered individuals make matters worse.
The state’s governor urged residents to carry on with their legal errands and report anybody who refuses to take old naira notes to the relevant authorities.
Prince Dapo Abiodun, the governor of Ogun State, has further threatened to close any commercial bank there that doesn’t accept old Naira notes.
The warning follows reports from the public that commercial banks and a few gas stations were refusing to accept old Naira notes as lawful money.
As part of his campaign for reelection to the state’s Abeokuta North local government area, the governor addressed market vendors Wednesday at Itoku Kampala market in Abeokuta.
In response to Abiodun’s disapproval of the banks’ actions, he pointed out that since the new Naira notes were unavailable, commercial banks had no choice but to accept the old banknotes in order to lessen the suffering of the populace.
He urged the populace to maintain their composure and assured them that his administration was making every effort to get the current crisis under control.
Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, the governor of Rivers State, has said that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN(shoddy) )’s execution of the naira exchange policy is political and has deteriorated the living conditions of the underprivileged in society.
According to him, the purpose of government and its agencies, like CBN, is to ease the suffering of the populace rather than cause it.
Wike said yesterday at the Government House in Port Harcourt during the formal presentation of the letter of nomination for the “award of Independent Man of the Year 2022” to him by the management of Independent Newspapers.
The governor said that the tactless execution of the naira exchange programme was causing misery among Nigerians, and he asked the government to take immediate action to improve the situation of the populace.
