From LAYI OLANREWAJU, Ilorin
The Kwara State Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress NLC has expressed concern over the scarcity of new naira notes in circulation.
It warned that the unavailability of the redesigned nation’s currency posed threat to the standard of living of the people and the nation’s economy.
The Chairman, of the State Council of NLC, Comrade Aliyu Issa Ore, who said this in a statement issued in Ilorin, added that the new notes are neither in the commercial banks nor Bureau De Change or the market.
The organized labour said the burden of hardship, which the scarcity of the new naira notes precipitated, is on the Nigerian workers.
It called on the federal and state governments to address the unavailability of cash in the interest of the workers and the poor masses in general.
The state NLC Chairman urged Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to liaise with the Ilorin Branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to tackle the acute shortage in the distribution of the new naira notes in the state.
It is observed that customers have continued to lament the scarcity of the new naira notes despite spending several hours at the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) of commercial banks nationwide in their bid to withdraw cash.
Many of the customers had besieged bank ATMs to avoid being caught up in the web of the deadline of CBN for Nigerians to switch from old notes to the newly redesigned currency.
The state NLC said in the statement, “We are constrained by the acute shortage of new currency notes in the country, which is caused by the Naira Redesign Policy of the apex bank.
“The currency notes are neither in the commercial banks nor Bureau De Change nor the market.
“The social economic implication of nonavailability of the Naira in the market is a threat to the standard of living of the people of Nigerian and the nation’s economy. The burden of the hardship caused by the unavailability of the new naira notes is on the Nigerian workers.