Barely a week to the Central Bank deadline on change of currency, there has been panic and confusion among some residents in Warri.

Delta State News Bulletinreports that banks in the area were not helping matters as the ones monitored by our correspondent did their transactions with the old naira notes, addingthat the Automated Teller Machines (ATM) of the said banks dispensed the old currency as of the time of filing this report.

The Bulletin reported that some traders were reluctant to accept the old currency as they threatened that they would stop accepting the old currency by this weekend.

Some of them also complained that they do not have a bank account and therefore do not have anywhere to deposit their old currency.

A gas seller along Cemetery Road, Warri, Israel Djebah, noted that the new currency was scarce and he did not have up to N10, 000 cash of the new currency.

A Point Of Service (POS) operator in Warri Garage, Kate Ebioke, expressed worries that the CBN deadline would affect his business.

A renowned Public Analyst, Chief Akpojotor Adjarho, spoke in the same vein as he expressed fears that the Central Bank deadline would cause hunger and hardship among the masses.

Adjarho noted that there was no guarantee that those who would rush to deposit their monies out of panic, would be able to withdraw their money on the 1st February.

He therefore called for an extension of date for the change of the currency and also suggested that the change should be gradual.