Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has suspended the payment and collection of consolidated revenue in all markets in the state till June 2023 over scarcity of new naira notes.
This was disclosed by John Okiyi Kalu, the commissioner for Trade & Investment during a meeting with representatives of Abia State Board of Internal Revenue Service led by the AG Chairman, Mr Okoronka and all the Chairmen of Market Committees in the state to fine tune modalities for immediate implementation.
Kalu said the Governor was deeply worried about the effect of the redesigning of the currency and its effect on hardworking traders in Abia State as a result of the poor implementation strategy which failed to take into cognisance the peculiar needs of rural and urban traders.
“Many rural traders are unbanked, and even if they wish to join the banking system, the branches are not even there, hence, they might have to travel several kilometers to neighbouring communities before they can carry out their transactions.
“Quite a number of them may also not have enough formal education to help them operate the POS machines, so the policy makers should have made provisions for their needs before rolling out. The immediate solution is to inject enough new naira notes into our rural economy through special intervention by the CBN to avert the looming socio-economic dislocation that might lead to anarchy,” he stated.
