“We will never forget your beauty and mature look. Go for we shall never see you again 😭😭😭”
As the deadline for the invalidation of the old ₦200, ₦500 and ₦1,000 notes is close by, Nigerians pour out their farewell messages as they mourn the unwarranted exit.
Following the announcement of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor that the old notes will cease to be legal tender after a deadline of 31st January 2023, Nigerian netizens have shown deep emotion towards the imminent exit.
While some expressed that they will miss the old Naira notes due to their superior quality to the new ones, others blame the president for the change on the argument that it does not add any value to the Naira currency.
9News Nigeria Facebook page followers, reacting to a post on the deadline, poured out their comments as they will miss the old notes.
“I will never forget you, go well,” Yusuf Bitrus commented while Mr Akan Offongekpe commented, “It’s now we realise that we had a dollar equivalent in terms of superior design.”
Others who posted their comments as they bid the old notes farewell include:
Obioma Edwin – “The best of Nigerian currency so far among the currency ever had”
Faith Okagbare – “This our fine money we miss you”
Abisola Akinola – “You fought it but it was time. Life is turn-by-turn”
Friday Macaulay – “Nigerians will never forget Buhari and Emefele”
McBidex MC commented, “So painful 😭😭😭😭 We will miss u”
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The two chambers of the National Assembly, the Senate and the House of Representatives had in separate resolutions asked the CBN to extend the deadline till 31 July.
But the CBN governor, Emefiele and President Buhari reaffirmed that there won’t be an extension of the 31st January 2023 deadline issued for the invalidation of the old Naira notes.
The National Assembly demanded that the deadline be extended to July 31st citing that the new notes were not yet adequate in circulation and that Nigerians were in for chaotic times in a bid to beat the deadline.
In contrast to the view of the National Assembly, The CBN governor, Emefiele said that about ₦1.3 trillion to ₦1.5 trillion of the old currencies had been deposited with the CBN, expressing hope that about ₦2 trillion of the old notes will have been deposited by the end of this week.
While addressing journalists at the end of its first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting for the year, the CBN governor said there was no going back on the policy, appealing to those who still have the old notes to turn them in be- fore January 31.
Emefiele said: “Unfortunately, I don’t have good news for those who said we should shift the deadline. My apologies.
Report by Obinna Ejianya, 9News Nigeria Melbourne Australian correspondent (Publisher)
