President Muhammadu Buhari Friday urged citizens to give him seven days to resolve the cash crunch that has become a problem across the country from the policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria to change high-value Naira notes with new ones.
His plea came while speaking to the Progressive Governors Forum who came to the Presidential Villa to seek solutions to the cash squeeze, which they said was threatening the good records of the administration in transforming the economy.
According to a statement issued by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President Media and Publicity, President Buhari said the currency re-design will give a 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 statement quoted him as saying.
“Even if a year is added, problems associated with selfishness and greed won’t go away,” he added.
He said 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.
“I will revert to the CBN and the Minting Company. 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 told the President that, while they agreed that his decision on the renewal of currency was good and they are fully in support, its execution had been botched and their constituents were becoming increasingly upset.
They told the President that, as leaders of the government and party in their different states, they were becoming anxious about a slump in the economy and the series of elections that are coming.
They requested the President to use his powers to direct the concurrent flourish of the new and old notes till the end of the year.
The President said when he considered giving 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.
He said he needed to go back to find out what was actually happening.
President Buhari told the Governors that, being closer to the people, he had heard their cries and will act in a way that there will be a solution.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) governors were believed to have requested the meeting to try to get the President to shift grounds on the cashless policy implementation, which had engendered some hardship among citizens.
Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, has recently assumed the vanguard of the ruling party governors pressing for the review of the cash swap policy, which he argues, is targeted against the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu’s election bid by those he said are elements within the Villa.
He was at the meeting also attended by the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, told waiting for correspondents after the meeting that there would be no briefing, saying that a statement would be issued on the outcome.
Other APC governors sighted at the meeting are those of Ebonyi, Ogun, Imo, Zamfara, Kebbi, Yobe, Lagos, Kano, Kwara, and Niger states.
But speaking on his way out of the villa, Governor Umar Ganduje of Kano State, told correspondents that the governors requested the President to extend the deadline for the swapping of old currency with the redesigned notes.
“Our request is for the deadline to be shifted. Not only shifted but the old currency should go along with the new currency until the old currency dies a natural death. Which is possible,” he said.
On whether President Buhari gave any assurances that their request would be honoured, the Kano governor stated: “He said he will look into that”.
