FRI. 03 FEB, 2023-theGBJournal| President Muhammadu Buhari Friday urged Nigerians to give him seven days to resolve the devastating Naira crunch which he says has become a problem across the country.
The President made his pledge as he met with Governors of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, in Abuja.
The cash crunch is a fallout from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s policy to change high value Naira notes with news within a set time frame- extended to February 10.
The President reiterated his earlier stand that the currency re-design will give boost to the economy and provide long-term benefits while expressing doubts about the commitment of banks in particular to the success of the policy.
‘’Some banks are inefficient and only concerned about themselves,’’ the President lashed out, in apparent anger at the manner in which the banks have deployed their resources to actualize the CBN Policy.
‘’Even if a year is added, problems associated with selfishness and greed won’t go away,’’ he said, adding that he will revert to the CBN and the Minting Company.
The President noted that he had seen television reports about cash shortages and hardship to local businesses and ordinary people and gave assurances that the balance of seven of the 10-day extension will be used to ‘’crackdown on whatever stood in the way of successful implementation.’’
‘’There will be a decision one way or the other in the remaining seven days of the 10-day extension,’’ the President assured the Governors.
Earlier, the Governors told the President that, while they agreed that his decision on the renewal of the currency was good and they are fully in support, its execution had been botched and their constituents were becoming increasingly upset.
‘’As leaders of the government and the party in our different states, we were becoming anxious about a slump in the economy and the series of elections that are coming,’’ the Governor told the President.
They requested the President to use his powers to direct the concurrent flourish of new and old notes till the end of the year.
The President also explained that when he considered giving the approval to the policy, he demanded an undertaking from the CBN that no new notes will be printed in a foreign country and they in turn gave him assurances that there was enough capacity, manpower and equipment to print the currency for local needs.
The obviously frustrated President took a swipe at the CBN’s failure to keep to its assurance that the country has the capacity to print the new notes.
‘’I need to go back to find out what was actually happening.’’ the President told the Governors. He promised the governors that he will ‘’act in a way that there will be a solution.’’
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