Pulse.ng : NOA urges Kaduna residents to take old naira notes to bank before deadline

Agency Reports

By Aisha Gambo

The National Orientation Agency (NOA), Kaduna state directorate has urged Kaduna residents to take their old naira notes to bank in order to get the new notes before January 31.

The state director,Alhaji Zubair Galadima-Soba made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Kaduna.

"People are urged not to wait until the deadline before they deposit their old notes in the bank to avoid rush.

" The deadline is for real, anybody Who fail to do so will lose his or her money", he said.

According to him, the redesigning of the naira notes was due to increment of counterfeiting notes that was prevalent in the country adding that the new notes had more security features.

He added that the redesigning of the currency notes was long overdue as the period stipulated in the best practice of change of currency notes was five to eight years.

He said that issue of people hoarding cash which later get spoilt would be reduced drastically as transactions would be less of cash but transfers through Internet banking among others.

He said that the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) has informed Nigerians that there was enough and adequate currency in the bank urging people not be afraid to deposit their money in bank.

He noted that people should not expect to get the equivalent of what they deposited at once adding that they would be able to withdraw the remaining subsequently.

"CBN has also suspended the charge for deposit no matter the amount ; it has been waved for this period.

"The issue of people residing in the rural areas, where banks are not available, they are encouraged to use approved money agents to exchange their money", he said.

The Director stated that the NOA had started mobilizing, educating and sensitizing Nigerians on the new naira note redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN).

He explained that the sensitization campaign was aimed at ensuring that issues on the use of the naira notes were properly understood by people especially at the grassroots.

According to him, the agency had instructed it's Community Orientation and Mobilization Officers (COMO) of 23 local government areas of the state to ensure that the information reach all wards .

He also said that the agency would pay advocacy visits to traditional and religious leaders, markets women , civil society organizations, youth groups on the issue.

He added that markets and motor parks would be visited while road walk and motorised public address system would be uses to address the public in their local dialect.(NAN)