President Muhammadu Buhari has been appealed to extend the deadline for the use of old naira notes by at least one year. The appeal was made by the Agro commodities Directorate of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APC PCC). The appeal was made to President Muhammadu Buhari in a statement on Thursday by the Director and Secretary of the directorate, Alhaji Abubakar Udulu Bello and Comrade Retson Tedheke respectively.
The directorate explained that farmers in the country are negatively affected by the policy but an extension will help them survive the hard times. The statement lamented that the naira redesign policy “is killing the fortune of farmers in rural Nigeria” as they are forced to sell off their produce below production cost due to naira scarcity.
Part of the statement reads: “The directorate urges President Muhammadu Buhari to extend the usage of the old Naira notes for a minimum of one year.
“This is a result of the scarcity of new notes in rural farming communities where farmers are forced to sell their produce far below the cost of production. This tends to erode all the successes in terms of prosperity that the Buhari Agriculture Revolution has brought to farmers.”
The statement urged the President to consider a gradual withdrawal of the old notes and replacement with new ones so as to avoid a looming food crisis as the farmers may not be able to plant next season if they don’t recoup their investment this season.
“Once farmers are forced to sell at a loss due to new currency scarcity, they will not be able to recoup their investments. Alternatively, they will not be on their farms by the next planting season.
“It is in light of this that we are appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari to direct the CBN to allow the old and the new notes to be in use, for a minimum of one year, while we gradually withdraw the old notes from circulation once they get to the banks,”
