HOPE ABAH EMMANUEL FROM DAILY TRUST
The governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, has revealed that despite his position, he has yet to see the new naira notes. He made this statement on Wednesday as he backed calls for the extension of the deadline for changing the old naira notes to the redesigned ones.
Ortom said he was concerned about the short duration handed to Nigerians to effect the change of their old notes to the new ones considering the rural dwellers who are yet to be aware of the development and the fact that the new notes were scarce.
Speaking at the Government House in Makurdi when the Governing Council of Joseph Sarwaaun Tarka University, Makurdi (JOSTUM) paid him a visit, Ortom said, “As governor, I have not seen any new naira despite six days to the deadline. What will happen to the man in the village? I join the senate in calling for the extension of the change of the currency from the old to the new one.
“Our people are already going through the pains of insecurity in this country. A majority of the people are suffering. Things are not okay in the country, Mr President should know this.”
However, our correspondent reports that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the weekend took its new naira bills campaign to markets in Benue State.
The officials of the bank were at both North Bank and Modern markets in Makurdi where traders and other stakeholders were sensitised about the change of some denominations of the currency.
