Naira Redesign: Activities Grounded As Ife Transport Workers Protest Shortage of New Notes

Transport workers in Ile-Ife on Tuesday protested against the scarcity of new naira notes in the country.

The protesters comprising of commercial bus drivers and motorcyclists took to the streets to express their grievances over the untold hardships imposed by the current monetary policy of the country's apex bank.

They barricaded parts of the major roads in the city including Mayfair, Lagere and Sabo, insisting government release new notes as the only solution to their suffering.

One of them who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity, lamented the current level of the suffering people undergo daily, arising from the currency change. 

According to him, they could now hardly feed as traders and market people no longer accept the old notes from them while customers keep paying them with old notes.

He added that customers are complaining of the unavailability of new notes and are left with no other option than the old notes to pay their fare, noting that the protest is to send a strong signal to the government that all is not well with the people.

It took the intervention of the men of the Nigerian Police, Moore Division led by the DPO who addressed the aggrieved protesters and bring calm to the situation.

OAU STUDENTS GUARD AGAINST EXTORTION

Meanwhile, on the campus of Obafemi Awolowo University, visited by our correspondent, students leaders were seen ensuring that the commercial motorcyclists operating on campus did not use the opportunity of the unavailability of shuttle buses "town-gboro" to extort students with exorbitant fees.

They were made to maintain the normal charge of N100 from main gate to buss stop and other applicable regulatory fees to other locations on campus.

Citizens from have frowned at the approach by the Central Bank in implementing its current cashless policy.

This is as the CBN Governor in a recent comment admitted that the regulatory bank did not anticipate the current challenges arising from the currency redesign.

The CBN in its naira redesign programme has changed the three of the nation's major currency denominations of N200, N500 and N1000, an initiative the regulatory bank claimed is aimed at curbing crimes and revamping the economy.