Kaduna State Governor Nasiru El-Rufai has urged citizens to continue to transact with old denominations of the naira notes which the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, is phasing out.
He said the policy will be reversed once the All Progressive Congress, APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu becomes president.
The governor, speaking in Hausa language said, “Everyone, especially people in Kaduna should not be disturbed because of the naira swap deadline, “Continue running your businesses and daily activities with whatever notes (old or new) you have.”
He added, “And we will make sure to address this problem as soon as we win the election. That will be the first issue to tackle if we win the election.”
El-Rufai made the assertion while speaking with a political audience in his state, urging them to stop thronging banks to swap their old notes or obtain new ones.
Recall that the the Godwin Emefiele-led CBN had said old denominations of the N200, N500 and N1000 notes would cease to be Nigerian legal tender from February 10 as a major plank of its new cash policy. The decision has left many Nigerians in quandary as the new notes remain acutely scarce.
El-Rufai assured the people, saying that, “Don’t rush yourself into taking old naira notes to the bank, and wasting your time in the unnecessary queues at the bank. Nobody can stop you (people) from using the notes.
“When we come to power, (Insha Allah), if Bola Tinubu becomes the president, we’ll give people more time to get rid of the old naira notes.”
WITHIN NIGERIA had earlier reported that the Supreme Court issued an interim injunction against the CBN and Federal Government, allowing the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes to remain legal tender beyond February 10 deadline.