Traders in Dawanau International Grains Market in Kano state have decried nonavailability of redesigned naira notes of N1000, N500 and N200 in banks, just as the deadline of 31st January to stop accepting old notes draws nearer.
The Deputy Chairman of the market, Alhaji Baba Wawo said traders in the market, which is the biggest grains market in West Africa, have found it difficult to access the redesigned currency while the deadline is fast approaching.
Wawo spoke during an awareness campaign for traders on the redesigned naira notes and e-naira, organized by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, held at the Dawanau International Grains Market in Kano on Thursday.
He told the management of the apex bank that majority of the customers they are dealing with are from rural areas who mostly do not even have bank accounts.
According to him, the customers do not even accept transfers when traders buy their goods in the market.
“We travel to long distance to meet our customers in rural areas who do not have access to banks dn do not have bank accounts. These people prefer cash when we buy their commodities. Most of them do not even accept transfers.
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“As i am talking to you now, i have not seen a single trader in this market, who go to bank and withdrawal the new naira notes. I do not think we can meet the deadline.
“We call on the CBN to make the new currency available at banks and other financial institutions. We welcome the new policy but let it be eased to us.
“We call on CBN to provide other means that will ease our transactions with our customers in rural areas. We will welcome this cashless policy even because it is a risk to us to carry huge amount of cash to cover long distance by road.
“However, we call on the CBN to provide leve ground for us to run our business with ease. The apex bank should consider that our business is cash-driven. Hence, if special provision is not made, we will be at loss,” he said.
Responding, the CBN has said that the policy was made in good faith and would impact the traders’businesses positively.
Director of Currency Operation of the CBN, A.B. Umar, stated that the cashless policy would modernise business.
He allayed fears of the traders that the policy would cripple businesses, assuring them that the bank would make the new notes available for them to make transactions with ease.
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Umar also noted that traces of intaglio ink produced by the redesigned naira notes when rubbed on plain white surfaces means they are genuine, not fake.
Umar, represented by an official at the bank, Shamsuddin Zubair Imam, debunked the insinuations that the new naira notes produced the ink mark because they are produced with low quality features.
However, according to Umar, any currency, even the US Dollar, if it does not produce ink mark when rubbed, so it is not genuine, but fake.
He emphasized that “the new naira notes had been designed with enhances quality features that make it difficult to be faked.
“It is untrue that if you rubb the new naira notes and see the mark of the ink Mena’s the currency is fake. That ink mark is the sign of quality. It means it is genuine not make. That is the feature that show a currency is genuine.
“Even American currency, if rubbed on surfaces, leaves the ink mark, that means it is genuine,” he said.
The Director also urged the traders to rush to banks and deposit their money before the January 31st deadline.
He advised them to make sure they beat the deadline in order not to incur losses in their business, urging them to go en mass to open bank accounts without deposit charges.
He pointed out that the redesign policy would help the apex bank reduce cost of currency management and check proliferation of fake currencies in the country.
