The National Orientation Agency, NOA Abia State and Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has urged Abians and residents to accept the new redesigned naira notes.
This advice is coming following the directive from CBN that the commercial banks should stop accepting the old notes from January 31st, 2023.
With CBN’s mandate, the masses have only 14 days from today, Tuesday January 17th to deposit the old notes in their possession.
Speaking with newsmen during a Road Walk Motorized Campaign on the new Naira Redesign Policy of CBN organised by NOA in collaboration with CBN in Umuahia, the state director of NOA, Dame Ngozi Okechukwu said the agency is poised and ready for a holistic citizens engagement which will include all sectors and tiers of government and those in the grassroots.
Lady Okechukwu said that NOA is well known for citizens engagement with adequate structure in the seventeen local government areas in Abia State and 774 LGAs in Nigeria to ensure the information gets to the grassroots.
Her words “we also have experienced Community Mobilization Officers COMOS who are in readiness to execute this very significant and critical policy of government, that is to enlighten the masses on the redesigned new naira notes”.
She maintained that after the motorized sensitization in Umuahia, the agency would engage traditional rulers, religious institutions and relevant stakeholders to sensitize the general public on the need to accept the new naira notes.
On his part, the Branch Controller, CBN Umuahia, Olaoba Ayotunde said the new naira notes have security features which can differentiate it from the counterfeit, as such, he informed Nigerians that the new notes are not washing out colours contrary to rumours.
According to Ayotunde, CBN is engaging many stakeholders to inform people in rural areas to accept the new naira notes, while the old one thousand, five hundred and two hundred naira notes will cease to be a legal tender by January 31st, 2023.
He therefore encouraged Abians and Nigerians at large to accept the new naira notes.
Ayotunde added that CBN is monitoring banks to ensure that they are loading their Automatic Teller Machines, ATM with the new redesigned naira notes.
