President Muhammadu Buhari has confirmed that he gave his approval for the naira redesign because he was convinced that it is in national interest.
Buhari assured Nigerians that those who have hidden huge cash illegally will be those that would have challenges exchanging them for the new notes while assuring those doing legitimate business not to have fear of anything.
The NATION reports that President’s confirmation of his approval to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to redesign the local currency put paid to the raging controversy following Governor Godwin Emefiele’s announcement on the planned naira redesign.
At the weekend, the minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, said she and other Federal Executive Council (FEC) members were not consulted by the CBN boss before the announcement last Wednesday.
But the President said he gave his approval because he was convinced “it is in national interest”.
In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, the President said the only people who have losses to incur will be those with illicit money hidden away, not those involved in legitimate businesses and workers.
Shehu said the President spoke his mind in a Hausa interview, which is scheduled to be aired on Wednesday.
The statement reads: “President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday said that the decision of the CBN to launch new designs and replace high value Naira notes had his support and is convinced that the nation will gain a lot by doing so.
“Speaking in a Hausa radio interview with the famous journalist Halilu Ahmed Getso, and Kamaluddeen Sani Shawai to be aired Wednesday Morning on Tambari TV on Nilesat, President Buhari said reasons given to him by the CBN convinced him that the economy stood to benefit from reduction in inflation, currency counterfeiting and the excess cash in circulation.”
According to the President, the three-month window given for the change to the new notes was not short.
Quoting the President, the statement said: “People with illicit money buried under the soil will have a challenge with this but workers, businesses with legitimate incomes, will face no difficulties at all.”