The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-rufai has urged citizens of his state to continue spending the old naira notes against the federal government’s February 10 order. People Gazette reported that El-rufai gave the order in a recent footage earlier this week. He urged citizens to disregard the Central Bank’s directive and continue to transact with old denominations of the Naira notes. He said the policy will be reversed once APC presidential candidate Bola Tinubu becomes president.
In his words; “Everyone, especially people in Kaduna should not be disturbed because of the Naira swap deadline,” said the Kaduna governor in the Hausa language. “Continue running your businesses and daily activities with whatever notes (old or new) you have.”
“We will make sure to address this problem as soon as we win the election. That will be the first issue to tackle if we win the election.” It can be recalled that the new currency swap policy has jointly been condemned by majorly Loyalists of the Party’s presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, with some claiming it’s a ‘calculated’ attempt to scuttle his ability to win the elections.
The CBN has disclosed that the old denominations of the N200, N500 and N1000 notes would cease to be Nigerian legal tender from February 10th as part of a wider plan to strengthen the naira. However, the new notes have conspicuously remained scarce.