Petrol stations, traders, banks reject old notes in Sokoto

In defiance of the rulings of the Supreme Court and subsequent advice by the National Council of States on new naira notes, some of the commercial banks, petroleum filling stations, and traders in Sokoto State are rejecting the old naira notes.

Findings by our correspondent in the state confirmed that most of the commercial banks in the state refused to collect the old naira notes from customers.

A bank customer, who spoke with our correspondent, said, “I was at the bank this morning to make a deposit and to my utmost surprise, the cashiers refused to collect the old notes from us.

“We tried to talk to the branch manager, who informed us that the Central Bank of Nigeria sent a memo to all commercial banks to stop receiving the old notes.

“It is very unfortunate when parastatals under Federal Government refused to obey court injunction against it, this is uncalled for.”

Also, it was gathered that most of the petrol stations, especially the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation mega stations refused to collect the old notes from customers.

This according to findings by our correspondent may escalate the recent tense situations in the state.

A resident of the state who spoke with our correspondent condemned the attitude of the CBN and the Federal Government for not listening to the cries of the masses in the country.

“What is loading is going to be more difficult than that of recent End SARS, which almost brought the country to ground level.

“I want to appeal to the government to do the needful before Nigerians will be pushed to the wall and forced to react” he added.

Also, most traders, most especially those within the old market area in the state, have joined in rejecting old naira notes from their customers.

A visit around the state further revealed that one of the major supermarket owners known as Alhaji Yaro Gobirawa also rejected the old notes in the state.

Gobirawa, who was the immediate past Chairman of Traders Association in the state, was among the delegates hosted by the CBN in the state recently to discuss how to provide a solution to the naira scarcity.

A staff in one of the five outlets of the supermarket in the state who spoke with our correspondent confirmed that the decision was taken when commercial banks in the state stopped collecting the notes from customers.

-punch news