Governor of Osun State, Ademola Adeleke has warned commercial banks operating in the State against hoarding the new naira notes and rejecting the old currency.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by Olawale Rasheed, the Spokesperson to the governor, Adeleke lamented the pain and suffering of the people under the currency redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
Adeleke also called on all stakeholders to reach consensus to put an end to the current hardships.
The governor decried the non-acceptance of the old currency and called on banks to be compassionate by either making the new notes available or continue with accepting the old currency notes.
According to Adeleke, “I am pained by the current hardship inflicted on our people. Daily living has become a nightmare. All sectors of the society are witnessing untold hardship. I call on bank chiefs to have mercy on the poor, the middle class and even the rich.
“We must make the new naira notes available or we continue to accept old notes. We must stop punishing the citizens even when they commit no sin.”
Adeleke, while urging banks branches in Osun to be humane, warned against encouraging insurrection against the government by citizens through unfair policies and actions.
He also insisted that banks in the State must meet the demands of the people for the new notes.
“Those banks who have stopped receiving old notes must reverse that policy. Our people are being pushed to the wall,” he lamented.
Due to the scarcity of the redesigned N1,000, N500 and N200 notes, most banks within the State capital, Osogbo have temporarily closed shop.
This has left customers at the mercy of Point Of Sales (POS) operators who now charge between N250 and N200 for every N1,000.
Also, many POS operators have also closed shop due to the inability to have cash to give to their numerous customers.
Newsmen also observed that despite the banks closing shop, long queues have continued to form in front of these banks with customers lining up in front of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) for long hours in the hope of finally dispensing cash for the day’s business.