The Senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial district, Chief Uche Ekwunife (Iyom) has weighed in on the ongoing hardship among Nigerians over the scarcity of the new Naira notes and called on the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria to take immediate and urgent actions that will ensure that the ugly situation does not linger any further.
She said she had received several reports from constituents on the challenges occasioned by the unavailability of the new naira notes, and called on the Federal Government and the CBN to review the deadline.
In a statement issued in Awka on Thursday, the Senator said she was totally saddened over the difficulties the people are facing over this sad and unfortunate development.
According to her, “any policy of government which does not make life easy for the average citizen is a policy which intent or implementation must be reviewed. The reports from my constituents who are going through extreme difficulty to withdraw their hard earned money show that the CBN deadline for the phasing of the old naira notes is causing untold hardship on average citizen”.
She recalled that the Senate had on the 24th of January adopted a motion urging the Central Bank of Nigeria to extend the deadline for exchange of the old Naira notes to help ease the tension and sufferings of Nigerians.
While she said the CBN had extended the deadline until February 10th, the new deadline is still not tenable based on the scarcity of the new notes and “the consequential chaos we are witnessing currently in banks and other business environments”.
The Senator said she had watched several trending and embarrassing videos of bank customers not being able to access their own money for feeding, transportation and their small businesses, lamented that several banks have slammed unreasonable withdrawal limits on customers.
“Naira is now being traded at 10 to 15 percent of the amount by the Point-of-Sale (POS) agents who have become a convenient black market for the withdrawal of the currency, albeit in limited amounts. At the banks and ATMs people are forced to stay on queue for long hours, and at the POS points, citizens are left with no option but pay outrageous prices to withdraw cash needed for meeting their daily needs. This development is truly heartbreaking and should not continue”.
While awaiting government’s prompt response to ease the hardships, Ekwunife urged her constituents to be patient and remain law abiding.
