In Niger, a family rejects using old naira notes as bride price

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The old N1,000 and N500 notes that the suitor’s family offered as the wedding price have been demanded to be returned by the family of a young woman in the Gbako LGA of Niger State.

The woman’s family received an undisclosed amount as bride price from the suitor’s family, along with cash for other wedding-related expenses, according to information obtained by City & Crime.

Although the wedding was not postponed, the girl’s guardians reportedly stated that they required new notes because they were unable to deposit the money in a bank account by the CBN deadline of January 31 and purchase some items for the event.

“We took money to the family of the girl we want to marry,” a family member of the male suitor said. On Sunday, they contacted me to ask me to come and return the old currency notes till we had the new naira notes. They claimed they had nowhere to replace the outdated notes. I thus wish to take it to the bank till we receive the new notes.

He added that many people were reluctant to collect the old notes out of concern that they wouldn’t have time to use them before the deadline of January 31.

According to City & Crime, since commercial banks have continued to distribute old notes, rural traders in the state have begun refusing them or closing their shops.

Most of the rural and semi-urban settlements in the state, according to our correspondent who visited a few of them, did not have access to banks.

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Residents of the historic town of Zungeru in the state’s Wushishi LGA claimed there was just one commercial bank there despite the town’s large population and bustling business district, particularly on Sunday and Wednesday market days.

Our correspondent was informed by market vendors that many farmers had stopped bringing their produce to the Zungeru market on Wednesdays and Sundays out of concern that they could be given obsolete naira notes.

According to Mohammed Sani, the chairman of the Wushishi Local Government Chapter of the Amana Farmers and Grain Suppliers Association, “Rural farmers have currently stopped bringing out their farm products to the market since last week because they are afraid they will be given old naira notes and they do not have bank accounts.”

According to him, the majority of people who live in rural areas have put off their weddings and naming ceremonies since they only have the money to make these purchases when they sell the produce from their farms.

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