APC governors appeal to Buhari to direct new, old naira notes co-exist

Governors elected under the umbrella of the All Progressive Congress (APC), have appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to allow both the old and new naira notes to co-exist to ease the suffering and bring succor to Nigerians.

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, who spoke to some journalists in Hausa language on Friday, said that while the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) mopped up over N2 trillion of the old notes, it printed only N300 billion, which, according to him, is not enough.

El-Rufai, accompanied by his Kano State counterpart, Abdullahi Ganduje, explained that even if the CBN had wanted to implement the cashless policy, it should have printed a half of what it mopped up, for a start, which ought to be N1 trillion.

He said they told the President that the masses are suffering and traders are losing their goods due to lack of patronage. He particularly cited the tomatoes seller that traveled to Lagos with their goods, but all got wasted because people had no money available to buy.

As a consequence, they appealed to President Buhari to reconsider his position on the new policy.

Curiously, El-Rufai revealed that Buhari did not give them a yes or no answer.

He disclosed that the Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), Atiku Bagudu, has gone back to meet the President privately with the hope to convince him.

At the time of filing this report, he was being awaited to address the media.