The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has appealed to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for a “slight extension” of the January 31 deadline on old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes.
Atiku made the plea in a video posted on Twitter on Saturday, saying the “large” unbanked population, especially in the rural area, will find it almost impossible to exchange their old banknotes for the redesigned currency in time.
“I’m aware of the challenges that farmers and others, like artisans, in remote areas of the country go through in moving cash from remote areas to commercial banks for conversion.
“On this note, I’m compelled to align my position with the upsurge of demands for a slight extension of the monetary conversion policy.
“The January 31st deadline is certainly going to cause heavy discomfort on our people and it will be magnanimous on the part of government and regulatory agency to ease the burden on the people in the public interest,” he said.
Watch the video below
My position on the CBN January 31st deadline on the new Naria notes. -AA https://t.co/FP3me2VLjZ
— Atiku Abubakar (@atiku) January 28, 2023
