Senate has again urged the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria to as a matter of argency to extend the deadline for the collection of old naira notes to the period of six months
This is the resolution of the Senate after a long deliberation on a motion by senator Sadiq Sulaiman from Kwara North on the urgent need to extend the period for the interest of the Nigerians.
It could be recalled that on the 15th of December last year a similar motion was presented before the Senate plenary by senator Muhammad Ali Ndume seeking the extention of time by the Central Bank but the resolution of the Senate was not respected.
In an interview recently, senator Kabir Gaya appealed for extention of time , saying many people in cattle businesses are not finding it easy because their business require cash not transferes and people reject such big amount
According to him the CBN and the Government should look into this policy especially the time limit otherwise it may turn to be a security issue
Senator Gaya further appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to direct the CBN Governor to consider their request and the outcry of Nigerians on this issue, saying in a democratic system the yearning and aspiration of the majority is very important
However, Senator Sadiq while presenting the motion said Nigerians especially at the rural areas were expressing serious concerns, saying small businesses will be affected.
Contributing on the debate many senators supported the motion, sanetor Adamu Aleiro said lack of the availability of the new notes made many people to resort to buying grains and panick buying thereby supporting what senator Thomson Seikibo suggested that the senate should invite the CBN Governor for more discussion on the 31st January deadline
He said if it continues this way it’s going to inflict hardship on people in the rural areas
For senator Muhammad Adamu Bulkachuwa from Bauchi shared his experience from his constituancy, saying he has seven Local Government which had only one Bank ,so his people appealed to him that their day to day money for businesses can not be Lodged in the bank due to crowd
He said his ears could not tell him lies when he heard that the Yobe state Governor made a special request for the extention to his state, appealing the Senate to take measures
Senator Biodun Olujimi also supported the motion saying her people are using banks in their businesses but the new notes are yet to be available and thus will affect negatively mainly on market women and small businesses
On the contrary senator Sam Igo from Ebonyi state opposed the motion saying many people have the culture of not using the Banking system and people tend not to accept change, supporting the position of the CBN thereby people should bear the consequences.
The Senate also resolved that the CBN should be compelled to open an exchange window for those who have no bank accounts to be able to transact accordingly.
Bashir M