Atiku Abubakar, the opposition candidate for president of Nigeria, has joined the calls for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to postpone the January 31 deadline for phasing out old banknotes. This move has alarmed many Nigerians who fear that it will cause business disruptions in the nation’s cash-based economy.
Nigerians have until Tuesday to exchange their outdated 1,000 ($2.17), 500, and 200 naira notes, after which they will no longer be accepted as legal cash. Despite the fact that the central bank began issuing newly designed notes last month, many Nigerians claim that they are still not frequently found in banks.
According to the CBN, its measures to decrease the usage of cash in the economy include the recall of the obsolete banknotes.
Old notes worth roughly 1.3 trillion naira have reportedly been deposited since the announcement in October, according to the bank.
Nonetheless, the majority of the population in Nigeria, the continent’s largest economy, lives in rural areas, and the country’s informal economy, which employs the vast majority of the people, still mainly relies on cash transactions.
Atiku, the leading contender for the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2018 presidential election, has expressed his worry that the majority of Nigeria’s unbanked populace won’t be able to turn in their old notes in time.
In a video, Atiku said, “I’m aware of the difficulties that farmers and others, like craftsmen in distant parts of the country, encounter in transporting funds to commercial banks for conversion.
“It is crucial that the CBN take into account extending the period of time during which the general public transforms their bank funds into fresh notes, so minimizing the financial effects on citizens.”
The central bank has been asked by Nigerian lawmakers to extend the deadline until Tuesday. Some stores in Lagos began to refuse the old banknotes over the weekend in preparation for the deadline.