The shortage of naira banknotes is piling more misery on Nigerians already battling biting fuel scarcity and rising inflation.
"It has been extremely difficult to get cash to buy food," said Adebisi Ogunbiyi, a trader in Badagry, a border town in southwestern Lagos state.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said the policy was aimed at mopping up the bulk of banknotes in circulation in the hands of hoarders and "criminals", and place them securely in bank vaults.
"We cannot continue to allow a situation where over 85 percent of cash that is in circulation is outside the banks," CBN governor Godwin Emefiele said in December.
But when the bank introduced a cap on cash withdrawals, the move sparked angry protests, forcing officials to increase the limits and push back the deadline for phasing out the old currency to February 10.
The influential Nigerian governors' forum warned that the shoddy implementation of the naira swap may cause "a CBN-induced recession".
The CBN has defended its policies, arguing that inflation was already "trending downwards and exchange rates relatively stable" as a result.
"We aim to support the efforts of our security agencies in combating banditry and ransom-taking in Nigeria through this programme," Emefiele said.
But experts said tackling security...
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