New Naira Notes: CBN Intensifies Sensitisation In C’River

The Central Bank of Nigeria has intensified sensitisation of traders in Calabar, Cross River State, to deposit the old naira notes in banks and get the new ones as the January 31 deadline to do so approaches.

The campaign which was carried out on Friday under the banner of ‘Civil Society Door-to-door sensitisation on our new naira note’ was coordinated by Lilian Cosmas, head of Civil Society Desk, SouthSouth Zone.

The sensitisation took Lilian and her team to Watt and other markets in Calabar where flyers were distributed to traders and others.

The essence of the campaign, according to Lilian, “is to ensure that traders beat the January 31 deadline for depositing of old naira notes of N200, N500 and N1000 denominations.”

The traders complained that they could not get the new naira notes as even banks were still dispensing old notes.

Lilian promised to convey their complaints to the appropriate quarters, and told the traders that the reason for the introduction of the new naira redesign was to mop up excess liquidity and free up cash in the hands a few individuals so that banks could easily give traders loans to boost their businesses.