Afenifere urges Buhari to end Naira scarcity before 7 days, decries hardship in Nigeria

The pan Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, on Saturday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to resolve the naira scarcity before seven days

The Progressives Governors’ Forum met with Buhari over the lingering scarcity of the new N200, N500, and N1000 notes on Friday in Abuja.

The president later promised to resolve the problem within seven days.

However, in a statement issued on Saturday by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi, the group noted that the Naira scarcity had frustrated the socio-economic lives of Nigerians.

It advised that the old and new notes be used together in the next three months.

The statement reads: “For the nation to have to wait for another seven days is to say that the people can continue to go on suffering and lives can continue to be lost and that businesses can continue to be crippled.

“The governors had met the President to inform him of the excruciating pains Nigerians are going through in their attempts to withdraw money from the banks and exchange the outgoing naira notes with new ones.

READ ALSO:Afenifere warns politicians against inflammatory statements ahead of polls

“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last year October, came up with redesigned notes for N1,000, N500, and N200. It stated that the deadline to replace the old notes with new ones was January 31, 2023. But by that time, millions of Nigerians have not been able to exchange their currencies.

“Not because they did not mean to do so or because they did not make the effort. They could not get the new notes because the commercial banks that were supposed to give them the notes complained that they did not get enough supply from the Central Bank.

“It was learnt that Progressive Governors Forum had appealed to the President to reconsider his stance especially as the policy was threatening the ‘good records of the administration in transforming the economy.’ As of the time this statement is being issued, there has been no indication that the President is prepared to ‘act quickly’.

“The outcry of Nigerians forced the CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele to obtain the permission of President Buhari last week Sunday, to extend the deadline to February 10, 2023. But even then, Nigerians have been finding it very difficult to obtain not just the new notes but even the old currency notes from their banks and sundry financial institutions that deal with cash.

“The situation became so critical that people in some cities in the country protested. The protest led to the death of at least two people in Ibadan on Friday last week.”

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