Ex-Kano Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje
‘We’ll destroy banks refusing to accept old notes, convert their premises to schools’ – Kano Gov. Ganduje
Amid the prevailing tension in the country following the scrapping of the old Naira notes by the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Kano Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje has vowed to destroy any commercial bank operating in the state which refuses to accept deposits from customers in the old currencies.
The Kano Governor, who disclosed this, Friday, during his inspection of palliatives meant for distribution to the citizens to cushion the effects of the hardship caused by the cashless policy, said premises of the destroyed banks would consequently be converted to schools.
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari, last Thursday, approved the re-introduction of the old N200 note as legal tender to exist alongside the new N200 note until April 10.
President Buhari who was, however, silent on the fate of the old N500 and N1000 notes, said the approval for the co-existing of the old and new N200 was also as a result of wide consultations with relevant stakeholders.
Earlier in the week, the CBN had insisted that the old banknotes remain non-legal tender at the expiration of its February 10 deadline to invalidate the currencies. This is even as the Supreme Court had on February 8 and 15, in separate rulings, ordered the regulatory bank to stay action on implementation of its deadline.
Reacting for the second time since after President Buhari’s directive, the Kano governor, who had in a statewide broadcast, Thursday, ordered residents to continue using the old banknotes, warned commercial banks operating in the state that he would destroy any one of them that refuses to accept the old N500 and N1,000 notes.
“Any bank that refuses to accept old five hundred and one thousand Naira notes will be destroyed. We will not tolerate such disobedience from any financial institution operating within our jurisdiction.
“We will convert the space of the destroyed banks into schools that will provide quality education for our children,” Ganduje said.
