Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to make it easier for Nigerians to obtain the new naira notes.
This appeal was made by Atiku’s campaign office in a statement released on Wednesday, February 1.
He, on the other hand, praised the CBN for heeding Nigerians’ calls to extend the deadline for exchanging old naira notes for new ones.
According to Channels TV, he requested that the apex bank conduct a review to alleviate the current scramble and hassle for the new naira notes across the 36 states of the federation.
Meanwhile, the ex-Vice President advised the CBN not to consider extending the deadline for exchanging old and new naira notes any further. He claimed that any further extension would jeopardize the policy’s goal.
Atiku said:
“However, the CBN should be wary of the elite whose motive for crying out about a further postponement of the deadline for the tenure of the old naira notes is sinister and far from being altruistic. I am totally in support of building a cashless economy and reducing the amount of cash in our economy.
“The cashless policy and reduction of the cash in circulation has many advantages, and every patriotic Nigerian should support the CBN on this. It will help to reduce the flow of illicit funds in our economy. It will help to defeat the funding of terrorism and deter the circulation of drug money in our economy. It will help our fight against corruption.”
“There should be no further postponement on the new naira regime after the expiration of the February 10 deadline. The vote riggers are seeking to push the CBN to extend till after the election when they would have achieved their evil plots. The CBN and the Presidency should be steadfast. The merits of the new naira policy far outweigh the little inconvenience we are experiencing.”
Atiku further stated that the CBN should consider issuing a directive to commercial banks to operate during the weekend to further hasten the process of circulating the new naira notes across the federation.
He added:
“If the CBN thinks its officials and banks must operate at the weekend in other to address the need of the ordinary people and rural dwellers, it may have to consider this option, after all the amount these people require is not huge.
“The essential element here is ensuring that the new currency goes around and is well distributed to the points where people can easily access them. Every good policy must be people-centred and must not bring avoidable difficulty to the people.”