As the deadline for the swapping of old Naira notes for the newly designed Naira notes draws near, President Buhari, has assured Nigerians that the government will ensure that the exercise will not harm the businesses and that no disruption is caused to the entire supply chain arising from the currency swap.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday, January 28.
Reacting to reports of long queues of people waiting to deposit old notes and get new ones, triggering public anger and opposition’s criticism, President Buhari stated that the currency changes were aimed at people hoarding illicit funds and not the common man, and that it had become necessary to prevent counterfeits, corruption, and terrorist funding.
This, he assured, will stabilize and strengthen the economy.
While taking note that the poorest section of society is facing hardship as they often keep hard cash at home for various expenses, President Buhari gave strong assurances that the government will not leave them to their own fate.
He reiterated that a number of initiatives by the Central Bank and all commercial banks are underway to speed up distribution of the new notes and do all that is necessary to forestall cash squeeze and chaos.