TheCable

Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has advised the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) not to extend the February 10 deadline for the exchange of old naira notes with new ones.

In a statement released by his campaign office on Wednesday, the former vice-president said any further extension would destroy the purpose and objective of the policy.

The deadline for the validity of old naira notes was initially January 31.

But the deadline sparked controversy as Nigerians could not access new notes, and on Sunday, the CBN announced that the president had approved an extension.

Atiku asked the apex bank to immediately review the measures in place for ensuring the seamless circulation of the redesigned naira notes across the country.

He explained that this was necessary to alleviate the hardship confronting ordinary people, especially rural dwellers, who need cash for their daily transactions.

“If the CBN thinks its officials and banks must operate at the weekend in order to address the needs of the ordinary people and rural dwellers, it may have to consider this option, after all the amount these people require is not huge,” he said.

“The essential element here is ensuring that the new currency goes around and is well distributed to the points where people can easily access them.

“Every good policy must be people-centred and must not bring an avoidable difficulty to the people.

“However, the CBN should be wary of the elite whose motive for crying out about more postponement of the deadline for the tenure of the old naira notes is sinister and far from being altruistic.

“I am totally in support of building a cashless economy and reducing the amount of cash in our economy.”

Expressing his support for the CBN’s cashless policy, Atiku said anti-democratic elements pretending to be democrats were ganging up against the CBN because of the policy.

The former VP alleged that these elements have commenced plans to lobby for a second postponement of the deadline for the change of currency.

“There should be no further postponement of the new naira regime after the expiration of the February 10 deadline,” he said.

“The vote riggers are seeking to push the CBN to extend till after the election when they would have achieved their evil plots.

“The CBN and the Presidency should be steadfast. The merits of the new naira policy far outweigh the little inconvenience we are experiencing.

“This is one policy that will benefit the country in the long term. We should not allow those selfish, parochial people with the narrow vision to derail it.”