Wilson Adekumola
The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar has joined the league of those calling on Federal Government and Central Ban of Nigeria to extend January 31 deadline for the use of old notes, saying that the new naira notes policy will make life difficult for Nigerians.
Atiku urged the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria to shift the deadline to ease the suffering of ordinary Nigerians who are finding it difficult to swap the old notes for new ones.
The former vice president made the appeal in a video posted on his verified Twitter handle @atiku, on Saturday.
He said, “The ongoing policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria to redesign the Naira has generated wide reactions across the country and beyond.
“This exercise is a world wide practice and therefore not anything new especially as the January 31st deadline draws closer, a great number of Nigerians out of good conscience have expressed apprehension about how the policy deadline will make life more difficult for Nigerians.
“The large number of unbanked Nigerians who do their business especially in rural areas will find it difficult almost impossible to meet up with the January 31st deadline to exchange their old bank notes with the redesigned currencies.”
He stated further,“I’m aware of the challenges farmers and other artisans face with moving money to commercial banks for the conversion.
“On this note, I’m compelled to align my position the upsurge of demands for a small extension of the monetary conversion policy. The January 31st deadline is certainly going to cause heavy discomfort for our people.”
The PDP candidate explained that his appeal was based on the fact that he knows that the intention of the monetary policy was not to hurt the poor.
