FCT: Okada Riders Reject New Naira Notes

Some commercial motorcyclists in the Kubwa area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are rejecting the new Naira notes, claiming they do not want to fall victim to fraudsters due to the counterfeit notes in circulation.

The riders said this while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday.

Salisu Umar, an Okada rider, who was seen refusing to accept a N500 new note from a passenger, said that the money looks fake.

Umar said he prefers the old Naira notes and since it is back in circulation he has decided to refuse collecting the new notes, especially the new N500 and N1000 new notes.

Another okada rider, Audu Ezekiel, said he hardly accepts the new Naira note from passengers because the notes get old on time.

“When I put the new Naira notes in my pocket for hours, before you know it, it would look very old once it’s squeezed small.

“Because of the way our job is I can not be arranging money in my pocket whenever I want to give a customer change,” he said.

Another Okada rider, who identified himself as Ibro, said he was not totally rejecting the new Naira notes but he does when the note presented to him looked suspicious.

According to him, it is difficult to identify a real note from the fake one with the Naira redesign, adding that most of the new notes look fake to him.

Ibro also explained that another reason most of his colleagues felt the new notes in circulation were fake, was because Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and Point of Sale (PoS) were no longer dispensing new Naira notes.

“So when we see a new note, we suspect its production and this is because we don’t want to lose money that might be identified as fake when we go to buy something,” he said.

A passenger and resident in Kubwa, Mrs Ngozi Ibeh, frowned at the attitude of okada riders who had severally rejected new Naira notes from her.

“I was going to work on Thursday and took Okada from my house to Federal Housing Junction where I usually enter a car to the secretariat.

“When I got to the junction and gave the man N500 new note to collect N350 change, he refused it and said I should give him the old N100 note he saw with me rather than the N150 he was meant to collect.

“I was happy he collected the N100 though because I had limited cash on me but for how long will the rejection continue,” she said.

Ibeh said it is important for Okada riders to be sensitised on the Naira swap and its redesign even though there have been reports of counterfeit notes production in some states.

“Unfortunately, we have also heard reports of fake old Naira notes so I don’t know why they are acting this way towards the acceptance of the new Naira notes,” she said.