New naira notes: Ganduje postpones Buhari’s visit to Kano
Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State has confirmed that he sent a letter to the Presidency seeking for the postponement of President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to the state to commission projects. Daily Trust on Sunday reports that President Buhari is expected to pay a one-day visit to the state on Monday to commission some key projects executed by the Ganduje administration.
However, the governor yesterday said that because the state was deeply concerned over the hardship occasioned by the limited time given for halting the use of old naira notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and attendant security reasons, he wrote to the Presidency asking that the visit be postponed.
He made this known during an interactive session he had with scholars, legislators, political leaders and the business community at the Government House,
Kano, adding that the decision was taken to avoid any unforeseen circumstance.
“As we are waiting for this important visit, we found ourselves in this situation which puts citizens into untold hardship. For security purpose, 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 banks and without any assurances of getting the new notes,” he said.
Governor Ganduje emphasised that Kano, being a commercial hub, must be heard loudly, insisting, “This problem affects all of us; therefore, our voice must be heard in all nooks and crannies. As a commercial hub, our position must be loud and clear.”
A statement by the chief press secretary to the governor, Abba Anwar, noted that during the meeting with sections of citizens in the state, they accepted that the decision was unanimous.
Meanwhile, it was gathered that the decision to postpone the visit was connected to the recent protest by people in Katsina State over the naira policy.
During the visit of the president to commission projects in Katsina, youths took to the streets to protest the hardship inflicted on them as a result of the CBN’s naira redesign policy.
… Atiku seeks extension of deadline
Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has called for an extension of the deadline by the CBN to phase out old naira notes in circulation.
The apex bank had issued January 31 as the deadline for the old naira notes to stop being a legal tender, insisting that it would not extend the period.
In a short video released on the social media yesterday, Atiku said the deadline was inflincting hardship on Nigerians.
He, however, said redesigning of currency was a normal thing across the world, hence the situation in Nigeria is not unusual, but the January 31 deadline is creating hardship on the people.
He said, “The ongoing policy by the CBN to redesign the naira notes has generated wild reactions across the country and beyond.
“This exercise is a worldwide practice and not anything new, but as the January 31 deadline draws closer, a large number of Nigerians, out of good conscience, have expressed apprehension about how the policy and the deadline would make life more difficult for them.
“Many Nigerians, especially farmers, artisans and those in the rural areas do not have bank accounts, so the timeframe for the change of old notes to new ones is not achievable.”
He appealed for the extension of the deadline so as to address the situation of hardship facing the people.
“The January 31 deadline is certainly going to cause a heavy discomfort on our people; hence it will be magnanimous on the part of the government and the regulatory agency to ease the burden on the people for public interest,” he said.