Fuel/Naira Scarcity: Protesters shut CBN Branch in Benin City

*The protesting Edo State Civil Society Organisations urge the Central Bank of Nigeria to quickly make the new Naira notes available to end the suffering of Nigerian consumers

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

As scarcity of the redesigned Naira notes remains amid equally disruptive fuel scarcity in the country’s economy, hundreds of the protesting Edo State Civil Society Organisations (EDOCSO) have shut the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Benin City Branch, in Edo State.

ConsumerConnect Tuesday, February 7, 2023,  learnt angry protesters also made the dualised and ever-busy Akpakpava Road, in Benin City, where the CBN Branch is located near the popular Ring Road, impassable to commuters.

EDOCSO members, who were armed with placards and banners bearing anti-CBN inscriptions and chanting anti-government songs, declared they would continue with the peaceful protest until the needful was done.

One of EDOCSO’s leaders, Comrade Omobude Agho, urged the CBN to quickly make the new Naira notes available to end the suffering of Nigerian consumers, reports The Nation.

Agho also alleged that Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Governor of CBN, “deliberately wanted to subject Nigerians to untold hardship” a few weeks before the 2023 General Elections.

According to the EDOSCO leader, the protesters would remain at the main gate of CBN in Benin, not minding the inconvenience.

Amid the protest, armed security personnel at the CBN Branch displayed professionalism and maturity by not harassing or molesting the peaceful protesters, report said.