The Police on Wednesday released several canisters of teargas to disperse thousands of depositors who thronged the Central Bank of Nigeria branch along Udo Udoma Avenue in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State to deposit old naira notes.
Our correspondent reports that the incident caused a stampede among the depositors some of whom were seen running helter-skelter to escape the effect of the teargas.
Efforts to speak with the Police Public Relations Officer, Odiko Macdon, on the development were abortive as he did not take his calls nor respond to text messages to his mobile phone as of the time of filing this report.
Meanwhile, commuters were left stranded following the rejection of old N100, N200, N500 and N1,000 notes by transporters in Uyo, the state capital.
It was gathered that many filling stations and business outlets did not accept the old naira notes.
Our correspondent, who monitored the development in the state, reports that commuters were unable to get to their destinations including public sector workers who were stranded along the major roads in the city as buses and taxis including tricycle operators rejected the old notes.
The rejection came amidst the growing scarcity of the new naira notes as customers continued to besiege banks with no avail looking for the new notes.
Some of the bank customers spent several hours daily without being able to carry out financial transactions particularly to make withdrawals from their accounts with some banks disbursing between N3,000 and N5,000 to customers only.
One of the bank customers who spoke on condition of anonymity told our correspondent that she left her residence early in the morning to withdraw some money for her family saying she has spent all day without any success.
She said ” I left my house early this morning without even preparing my children for school, but I have spent almost the whole day without success”
She said that bankers were loading money in bits saying that at the end of the day, customers could only withdraw N2,00 at a go.
Further checks revealed that apart from transporters and filling stations rejecting the old notes, pharmacies and traders in the metropolis have also not been accepting the old notes despite the nonavailability of the new ones.
It was also gathered that some filling stations that have rejected the old naira notes have reduced the price of petrol per litre and also rejected debit card transactions, selling at a reduced price with the new notes.
The currency squeeze also affected the yearly Valentine’s Day celebration which was marked yesterday as it took a different outlook from those of the previous years.
According to checks, many young men and women were said to have retired home early until in previous years while the use of red gowns and dresses was not dominant yesterday just like many relaxation spots were without the usual hustling and bustling activity.
