PUNCH
The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Saturday, reiterated his earlier position that there was no going back on the naira redesign project and ruled out the extension of the January 31 deadline for the old N1,000, N500 and N200 to cease from being legal tender.
The President’s position was supported by the Central Bank of Nigeria, which insisted that the deadline would not be extended.
This is coming at a time when stakeholders, including the 36 state governors, the Nigerian Bar Association, the Arewa Consultative Forum and bank customers, are calling for a review of the policy and an extension of the deadline.
Buhari explained that the currency redesign was not meant to target innocent citizens, but corrupt people and terror financiers hoarding illicit funds.
He also assured Nigerians that the government would ensure that they and their businesses would face no harm from disruptions caused to the entire supply chain arising from the currency redesign.
A statement on Saturday by the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said Buhari was reacting to reports of long queues of people waiting for hours for their turn to deposit old notes and get new ones.
The statement was titled, ‘Government will eliminate squeeze, chaos in currency swap, President Buhari assures’.
Buhari reiterated that the currency change was aimed at people hoarding illicit funds and not the common man.
He said the changes had become necessary to prevent counterfeits, corruption and terrorist funding as well as to stabilise and strengthen the economy.
The statement read in part, “While taking note that the poorest section of society is facing hardship as they often keep hard cash at home for various expenses, President Buhari gave strong assurances that the government would not leave them to their own fate.
“He reiterated that a number of initiatives by the central bank and all commercial banks are underway to speed up distribution of the new notes and do all that is necessary to forestall cash squeeze and chaos.”
The President’s explanation may have been in reaction to the position of the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, who last Wednesday alleged that the currency change and the lingering fuel scarcity were parts of plans to sabotage the February election and prevent his imminent victory.
Similarly, the CBN, on Saturday, insisted that the January 31 deadline for the validity of the old naira notes remained unchanged.
Refusing to yield to pressure to extend the deadline, the apex bank, via its verified Twitter handle, insisted that the deadline was sacrosanct.
