Atiku Abubakar has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to extend the deadline for the phase-out of obsolete naira notes.

With only three days left for the discontinuation of the use of old notes, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Saturday asked the apex bank to slightly adjust the deadline.

In a video broadcast seen by Peoples Gazette, Mr Abubakar argued that the January 31 deadline will make life more difficult for Nigerians.

He argued that the unbanked populations who do their business in the rural area would find it almost to meet up with the January 31 deadline.

“The ongoing policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria to redesign the naira has generated wide reaction across the country and beyond. This exercise is a one-way practice and, therefore, not anything new.

“Especially as the January 31st deadline draws closer, a great number of Nigerians, out of good conscience have expressed apprehension about how the policy and the deadline will make life more difficult for Nigerians,” Mr Abubakar said.

“The large number of unbanked population who do their businesses, especially in the rural area, will find it almost impossible to meet up with the deadline of January 31st to exchange their old bank notes for the redesigned currency.

“I’m aware of the challenges that farmers and others like artisans in the remote areas of the country go through in moving cash to commercial banks for conversion.

“On this note, I’m compelled to align my position with the upsurge of demands for the slight extension of the monetary conversion policy.

“The January 31st deadline is certainly going to cause heavy discomfort on our people and it will be magnanimous on the part of government and the regulatory agency to ease the paddle on the people for public interest while we can continue with sensitizing the public on the intending imperative of mobile banking.

“It is important for the CBN to consider the extension of the time that the public can convert their unbanked monies into new notes,” he added.

His appeal comes as Nigerians race to exchange their old currencies for the newly recoloured notes amid the CBN’s insistence that it will not change the January 31 deadline.

The Senate on Tuesday urged the CBN to extend the deadline to July 31, 2023.

Also, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) petitioned the CBN on Thursday to extend the deadline.

Making the case for the extension, NLC President Ayuba Wabba stated that the bulk of Nigerians who live in remote locations where banks do not operate have yet to receive the new notes.