Residents of Kaduna State have rejected Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s order prohibiting the use of old N1000 and N500 notes.
In a nationwide broadcast on Thursday, President Muhammadu Buhari declared that only the old N200 notes and other lower denominations are acceptable for transactions.
He insisted that the higher denominations seized were legal tender, as declared by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
However, during a broadcast address to his state’s people, Governor El-Rufai instructed them to continue transacting with old higher denominations, despite the President’s and CBN’s directives.
According to him, the CBN’s naira redesign policy, which was implemented with President Buhari’s approval, is a ploy by some in power to derail the presidential ambitions of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Tinubu.
El-Rufai, who stated that he and his counterparts from other states are concerned about the suffering of the people and are working to provide relief, tasked Kaduna State residents to continue conducting business using the old currencies banned by the apex bank.
However, some state residents who spoke with journalists over the weekend said they couldn’t keep accepting the banned notes as directed by El-Rufai.
They noted that the notes are not accepted at the market and cannot be used to purchase gasoline.
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 bus driver, Mohammed Sani told Daily Trust.
He added;
If you go to the market, you cannot use the old notes to buy anything, neither will you accept the old notes from anybody because you cannot use it to transact any business.
Alhaji Sale Musa, a trader at Kaduna Central Market, told reporters that he cannot sell anything because most people do not have money, adding, “Nobody is willing to use or accept the old notes any longer for any business transaction.”
He stated that he would not be misled by El-directive, Rufai’s which, in a broadcast to the state’s people, urged them to continue using old naira notes for business purposes.
A banker identified as George Stephen also stated that they are not authorized to accept old N500 and N1,000 notes from customers.