Oluwanifemi Ojo
The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), was declared free to visit Kano State following the approval of the deadline extension to phase out the old note from January 31 to February 10.
This was expressed by the governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje. He said that the state is willing to receive the President ahead of the commissioning of the projects carried out by his administration.
According to The Punch, the governor stated this on Sunday after a meeting with Buhari in Katsina while he spoke with the journalists.
In his words “We are very much ready to receive him and we have a lot for him to commission, including Federal Government projects and state government projects. They are state-of-the-art projects.”
Meanwhile, the state had earlier written on Saturday requesting that the visit be postponed as the residents have been adversely affected by the January 31 deadline.
According to the governor on Saturday, the decision to postpone the scheduled visit has the agreement of state lawmakers, political actors, and the business community. The adjournment was decided to prevent any unanticipated situations.
Ganduje said “As we are waiting for this important visit, we found ourselves in this situation, which puts citizens into untold hardship. For security purposes, we wrote to the Presidency that President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to Kano be postponed.
“We got an acknowledgement copy of the letter. People are really suffering because of this policy.”
“There are no banks in most of our rural communities. How these people get new Naira notes is of great concern. Just look at what is happening in our urban areas, people go and spend hours upon hours in bank. without any assurances of getting the new notes.”Ganduje lamented.
Apparently, the new development allowing Buhari to visit kano can be traced to the recent approval gotten by the CBN to extend the deadline for phasing out the old note.
According to the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele. “A 10-day extension of the deadline from January 31, 2023, to February 10, 2023, to allow for the collection of more old notes.”
He also stressed there have been pressure from citizens and stakeholders regarding the January 31 deadline line.
“Based on the foregoing, we have sought and obtained Mr President’s approval for the following: a 10-day extension of the deadline from January 31, 2023, to February 10, 2023; to allow for collection of more old notes legitimately held by Nigerians and achieve more success in cash swap in our rural communities after which all old notes outside the CBN loses their Legal Tender Status,” he said.
