According to the Punch, it was a hive of activities for commercial banks in Katsina state as customers thronged the banks in a bid to change their old notes to new ones. Most of the banks had to shut down operations due to the massive crowd that besieged their premises.
The race to beat the deadline date has also affected most residents as traders, and transport workers like commercial cyclists have started rejecting the old notes thus throwing the residents into a state of confusion.
Ever since the CBN announced the January 31 deadline date, some prominent Nigerians have reached out to the apex bank asking it to extend the dates but the bank headed by Godwin Emefiele has flatly rejected the idea of shifting the dates.
In December 2022, the senate reached out to the CBN asking for an extension of the deadline date.
The senate had hinged their appeal on the fact that the deadline date was too short and would negatively affect Nigerians who would spend most of their time in long queues in a bid to meet the deadline date.
The motion was raised by Ali Ndume, senator representing Borno-south, and seconded by Adamu Aliero, senator representing Kebbi Central.
Just recently the Governor of Yobe state, Mai Mala Buni also appealed to the CBN to specially attend to the people of his state and grant them an extension to change their old naira notes into new ones.
Buni cited the lack of banking services in most parts of the state as the reason for the appeal.
According to the governor, just four out of the 17 local government areas in the state had access to financial services making it difficult for people in the remaining 13 local government areas to access banking services.