Obaseki faults Naira redesign, accuses APC of keeping money for 2023 elections

The Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, on Wednesday, faulted the plan by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to redesign Naira notes.

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, on October 26 announced that the N200, N500, and N1000 notes would be redesigned effective from December 15.

Two days after the announcement, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, disowned the policy.

Ahmed, who appeared at the National Assembly for the defence of the ministry’s 2023 budget, said the ministry was not consulted by the CBN before the policy was made public.

President Muhammadu Buhari had since confirmed that he approved the redesign of the Naira notes.

Obaseki, who spoke at the inauguration of the Edo State Peoples Democratic Party Women Campaign Council in Benin City, argued that the redesign of the Naira notes cannot solve the country’s problems.

He accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of stocking up money for the 2023 general elections.

He advised the people to collect the money and vote for the PDP in the elections.

Obaseki said: “They say we should all bring our Naira and give it to them because they want to change it for us. Is that our priority now? Does changing of currency reduce the price of food in the market? They say they want to change our currency and the dollar is going higher every day. We can’t even see dollars again.

READ ALSO: Naira redesign will check vote-buying – EFCC

“I am an economist and I can tell you categorically that this policy by the CBN and Federal Government has no basis in Nigeria’s economy. There is no reason to do this. The move is purely political as there is no urgency in changing our currency.

“The urgency is on how to get food for our citizens to remove starvation and hunger from the land. The urgency is on how to maintain discipline in our monetary policy so that we can manage our foreign exchange rate because we are import-dependent.

“We can’t allow those managing our country (APC) to continue because if we allow the APC government to continue, the country will fail as the country is already failing. God sees how people are suffering in this country and will not allow them to manage Nigeria again.

“The 2023 general elections is for the continuous existence of Nigeria. If the country must not fail, then we need to vote out APC as a party. Our party, the PDP is organic and our candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is the best among all. The party has the structure to win the election next year.

“APC has stolen our money and wants to use it to impose themselves on Nigerians come the 2023 general elections. They have stocked up a lot and want to bring the money. Don’t be afraid, collect the money and vote them out as you did in Edo in the 2020 governorship election.”

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