The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has taken steps to alleviate the impact of the Naira scarcity on the residents of remote communities in Kano State.
The CBN officials have distributed new Naira notes to the residents of Kibiya, Rano, and Tundun Wada local governments to enable them to exchange their old notes for the new ones, News About Nigeria reports.
The scarcity of the Naira notes has been causing poverty in many parts of Nigeria, leading to a series of protests and attacks on commercial banks in some states. The scarcity has forced many businesses to shut down as owners could no longer get cash to run their business.
To tackle the problem, the CBN has made provisions to disburse cash to rural areas where there is no convenient road to the local government and no banking infrastructure. This will enable the residents of these areas to exchange their old Naira notes for the new ones.
The Deputy Director of the CBN, Muhammed Ali, who monitored the distribution of the notes said that it is an opportunity that the CBN has provided for the people in remote areas to exchange their old notes for the new ones. He urged the residents to bring out their old notes so that they can exchange it for the new ones.
Ali also noted that those who are unable to exchange their old notes for the new ones can take their money to a bank for deposit. However, News About Nigeria found out that CBN was not carrying out the cash swap exercise in many other remote communities in many other parts of the country, especially in the Southern parts of the country.
The apex bank promised that the new Naira distribution exercise will continue in all the 44 local government areas of the state. It is hoped that this initiative will help to alleviate the poverty caused by the scarcity of the Naira notes and boost economic activity in these areas.
