The residents of Kaduna State have started to ignore the directives given by the Governor of the state, Nasir El-Rufai that they should continue using the old N500 and N1,000 as legal tender for businesses purposes in the state.
Recall that El-Rufai, during one of his state broadcast to the citizens of the state, described the naira redesign policy as a weapon by members of the ruling party and close allies of President Buhari bent on stopping the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu, from winning the 25 February election and described it as “mindless”.
The Governor then urged the people to still collect the old notes, saying that after the Buhari governmnet, the new APC government would reverse the policy.
However, the people have started to reject the old notes in the Kaduna with claims that they are being rejected by others who feel the notes have lost its relevance.
A bus driver, Mohammed Sani, told journalists, “I cannot collect the old N500 and N1,000 notes from passengers because l cannot use the same money to buy petrol or give it to the owner of the vehicle. I only know that it is only the N200 old note that is allowed to be used as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari.”
A trader at the Kaduna Central Market, Alhaji Sale Musa, said that he cannot sell anything because most people do not have the money, adding, “Nobody is willing to use the old notes or accept it any longer for any business transaction.”
He said that he would not be misled by the direction of El-Rufai, who, through a broadcast to the people of the state, enjoined them to continue using the old naira notes for their business activities.
A banker, George Stephen, explained that they are not authorised to receive old naira notes of N500 and N1,000 from customers.
Findings now show that banks in the country have started collecting for deposit the old notes despite a disclaimer put forward by the country’s apex bank CBN.