The leader of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, South-East chapter, Gidado Siddiki, has appealed to the Central Bank of Nigeria to extent the deadline given for the circulation of the country’s new currencies. Siddiki made the call in an interview with journalists in Awka, on Thursday, said the December 15, 2022, deadline should be extended for another three months to enable members of the association bring out their money from the forests to avoid huge losses on their part. He said the appeal became necessary because according to him, the group are majorly living in forest and bushes as a result of their business, they needed more time to bring out their savings for proper transformation to the new redesigned notes. The Central Bank of Nigeria had announced the redesigning of the three highest currency denominations of N200, N500 and N1,000 notes. Siddiki, who said the association was in full support of the policy said, “We are appealing because in 1985, when a similar policy was announced, so many of our people that were in their grazing settlements at the rural areas across the country lost their money because the information came too prompt and was not properly communicated to them. “They could not meet up with the timeframe given by the Apex bank then. The two weeks given then was not enough for them to meet up and majority of the herders lost their long time savings because, many of the herders do not have account numbers and do not keep their money in the bank. They keep and protect their money locally. “We can not fight or reverse government policies as law abiding citizens of Nigeria, we are only appealing to the CBN to help us extent the deadline for another three months, so as to enable the leadership of Miyetti Allah reach out properly to those living in out of telecommunication areas across states of the federation.”
Credit: Punch
