Atiku Protests “Discomfort” With Tinubu And Others.
Atiku Abubakar, a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential contender, said on Saturday that the deadline for the usage of old naira notes is unreasonable and upsetting.
In a video tweet, Atiku said that the deadline “is going to bring great anguish for Nigerians.”
“While we continue to raise awareness of the importance of mobile banking policy, it would be kind of the Federal Government and the regulatory body to lighten the burden of the people.”
Former vice president of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007 Atiku asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to take into account extending the deadline for people to exchange their old naira notes for new ones, which was set for Tuesday, January 31.
Atiku said, “I feel that such unpleasant experience is not the goal of the program. It is vital for the CBN to seek an extension for the people to exchange their old notes so lowering the financial implications on these vulnerable individuals.
Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, explicitly declined to extend the deadline prior to the PDP candidate’s declaration.
Emefiele said on Wednesday that despite the banks’ scarcity of fresh notes, Nigerians have time to deposit their old notes and get their new ones.
The explanation is that, in our opinion, 100 days should be sufficient time for people who still own old currency to deposit their funds in banks. Additionally, we made every effort to guarantee that all banks were open to accept all former currencies. We think 100 days is more than enough.
In his request for a postponement of the CBN deadline, Atiku is not acting alone. Bola Tinubu, a fellow APC candidate for president, said that it was callous for Nigerians to experience the burden of exchanging outdated naira notes only a few weeks before the general elections beginning on Saturday, February 25.
The Nigerian Senate petitioned the CBN to extend the deadline to July 31 at Thursday’s session, expressing concerns that millions of rural and unbanked Nigerians may suffer if the original date stands.
The governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, requested that President Muhammadu Buhari postpone his visit because he is “very worried” about the suffering it is inflicting the people of the state.
“The majority of our rural villages lack banks. The distribution of the new Naira notes is a major challenge. Just see what is occurring in our cities, where people frequent banks and spend hours upon hours there, according to Ganduje.
