Gov. Zulum distributes new naira notes to 12,000 vulnerable Borno residents
In an effort to make things easier for his people, Borno State Governor Babagana Umara Zulum has visited Rann, the headquarters of Kala-Balge Local Government in the central part of the state to supervise the distribution of redesigned naira notes to over 12,000 residents.
Before the governor’s intervention, residents of Rann lamented that traders were no longer accepting the old naira notes being phased out.
Following the redesigning of N200, N500, and N1,000 naira notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerians have been finding it hard to access the new notes that were very scarce and unavailable to obtain.
Governor Zulum’s gesture was to enable the residents to buy food after being cut off by flooding which destroyed farmlands and made the villagers source foodstuff from border villages between Nigeria and Cameroon.
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Rann can only be reached by road through the border areas in Cameroon after the flood which was caused by a dam discharge in Central Africa trapped Nigerians in the community and prevented them from traveling to other parts of Borno.
Zulum flew from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, to Rann by helicopter to coordinate the distribution of the redesigned naira notes to vulnerable men and women most of whom have no source of livelihood.
“Unfortunately this community has been cut off from the rest of Nigeria for the last 7 months, they do not have access to any of the facilities because of the heavy rainfall coupled with the lack of access roads. We are here in Rann to provide some relief materials to about 12,000 households living here” Zulum explained.
Neptune Prime reports that the CBN agreed to extend the dateline of swapping naira notes from 31 January to 10 February after many appeals from different stakeholders, legislators, clerics, and some northern Governors like Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe and Umar Ganduja of Kano urging the apex bank to give alternatives to people lacking accessible banking services in rural areas.
In a frantic move to obtain the new notes and meet up with the additional ten days dateline, Nigerians began paying money in exchange for the redesign notes which led to the Department of State Services arresting members of organised syndicates involved in the sale of the newly redesigned naira notes while revealing that some commercial bank officials are aiding the criminals.
