The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACABAN) has appealed to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to extend the timeframe for the circulation of the redesigned Naira notes by three months.
The association said this will enable its members have more time to deposit their current currencies in the banks.
The leader of the association in the South East, Gidado Siddiki, made the appeal in Awka, Anambra on Thursday.
He noted that the extension will enable its members who are mostly living in the forests and bushes due to the nature of their grazing business bring out their savings for proper transformation to redesigned naira notes to avoid huge losses.
Expressing the association’s support for the policy, Siddiki recalled that when the naira was redesigned in 1985, many herdsmen who were in their grazing settlements in rural areas across the country lost their money because of the impromptu nature of the execution of the plan.
“The cattle breeders could not meet up with the time frame given then by the apex bank as the two weeks given was not enough for them to meet up,” he said
“As a result, the majority of the herders lost their life savings because many of them do not have bank accounts and therefore do not keep their money in the banks. Their normal practice is to keep and protect their money wherever they are.
“We cannot fight or reverse the government policy as law-abiding citizens of Nigeria, but we are only appealing to the CBN to help us extend the deadline for another three months to enable the leadership of Miyetti Allah to reach out properly to those living in out-of-communication areas across states of the federation.”
According to the CBN, the redesigned currencies will start circulating on December 15, 2022, while the old notes are expected to be out of circulation by January 31, 2023.
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