“Redesign Of Naira Aimed At Politicians; Not The People” – Buhari

Major General Muhammadu Buhari (ret.), the president, stated on Saturday that the government’s currency reset is not intended to target innocent citizens but rather corrupt individuals and terror financiers holding looted funds.

He also promised Nigerians that the government would make sure that any disruptions to the whole supply chain brought on by the currency swap would not have an adverse effect on them or their businesses.

Buhari said this in a statement titled “Government will eliminate squeeze, chaos in currency swap, President Buhari assures”, released on Saturday and signed by Garba Shehu, the senior special assistant to the president for media and publicity.

The president was responding to reports of huge lines of people waiting for hours to exchange their old notes for new ones.

The CBN has stated that all old notes must be turned in to commercial banks before January 31, 2023.

The CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, informed journalists at the State House on November 23, 2022, when the new Naira notes were unveiled, that the January deadline remained solid and would not be changed for any reason.

Nigerians are getting closer to the deadline, but the amount of new notes in circulation has been grossly insufficient.

The majority of commercial banks still give their customers old notes through their automated teller machines.

Buhari reaffirmed that the currency changes were targeted at people hoarding illicit funds and not the average person in response to reports of long lines of people waiting for hours for their turn to deposit old notes and get new ones. This infuriated the public and drew criticism from the opposition.

He stated that the measures had become necessary in order to stop fraud, corruption, and the funding of terrorism as well as to stabilize and improve 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 will 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.”

Recall that Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate for the All Progressives Congress, claimed on Wednesday that the change of currency was done in an effort to undermine the February elections.

Tinubu pointed to the ongoing fuel issue and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s redesign of the currency as moves to obstruct his predicted victory.

The former Lagos governor said in Yoruba, “They don’t want this election to hold. They want to scuttle it.

“They have started coming up with the issue of ‘no fuel’. Don’t worry, if there is no fuel, we will trek to cast the vote.

“If you like, increase the price of fuel, hide the fuel or change the ink on the naira notes, we will win the election. We will use our PVCs (permanent voter cards) to take over the government from them; if they like, let them say there is no fuel, and we will trek there (polling booths).”