Naira Swap: Governors Saved Nigeria from Needless Political, Economic Chaos

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February 25, 2023, election, Mr Bola Tinubu, has praised Nigerian governors, especially those of Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara States, for standing by the people of Nigeria.

On Wednesday morning, the Supreme Court granted an interim injunction seeking to stop the federal government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from banning the use of old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes as legal tender in the country from February 10.

In a statement issued by the Director of Media and Publicity of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Mr Bayo Onanuga, the former Governor of Lagos State, noted that the policy has subjected the masses to pains.

He stated that the Governors intervened and saved Nigeria from needless political and economic chaos and miseries, which have clearly become the unintended consequences of the monetary policy of the apex bank.

However, Mr Tinubu called on the CBN to ensure the execution of the Supreme Court ruling by taking all necessary steps to ensure sufficient availability of old and new Naira notes to citizens and properly sensitise the public on the ruling and the consequent validity of old Naira.

“I want to salute the courage of our Governors and most especially the Progressives Governors in APC who acted to save our country from avoidable and dangerous political crises and social unrest which the Central Bank policy on new Naira notes has brought on our country.

“Our country was dangerously careering toward anarchy and political and economic shutdown. But with the Supreme Court interim ruling, our country has been pulled back from the precipice. We thank our Supreme Court Justices for ruling wisely on the side of the people who have been subjected to undue agony and pain since this policy was announced.

“The Federal Government and relevant stakeholders can now sit down and work out a better framework on how to proceed with the new policy without causing any social and economic disruption and inconvenience to our people. We have examples of other countries that have successfully and seamlessly changed their currencies to learn from.

“Those countries give a long time, at least 12 months, to effect the currency change. They do not engage in a CBN-like fire brigade approach.

“We have seen how a good policy can be poorly implemented to cause unintended problems for the people who should be the beneficiaries. While lessons have been learnt, we must now move on as a country and people with a Renewed Hope for a better tomorrow.

“The sole aim of my running to be the president of our country is to make life better and more abundant for our people, and this is an ideal to which I will remain eternally committed,” he said.