President Muhammadu Buhari spoke on Saturday regarding the difficulties Nigerians are having in obtaining the new money, giving rise to speculation that the January 31 deadline for exchanging old naira notes for new ones may be postponed.
He promised that his government will make sure that citizens’ companies are not affected and that the soon-to-end currency swap won’t disrupt the entire supply chain.
President Buhari reiterated that the currency changes were targeted at people hoarding illicit funds and not the average person and that it had become necessary to stop counterfeits, corruption, and terrorist funding. This was in response to reports of long lines of people waiting for hours for their turn to deposit old notes and get new ones.
A popular northern Islamic cleric mocks Buhari, claiming that Katsina residents “stoned the Satan.”
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He promised that this would strengthen and stabilise the economy.
President Buhari made it clear that the government would not leave the most vulnerable people to their own fates, even though he acknowledged that they have trouble because they don’t have much cash on hand.
He emphasised that the Central Bank and all commercial banks are taking a number of steps to expedite the issuance of the new notes and take all necessary precautions to prevent a cash crunch and chaos.
According to PlatinumPost, the Central Bank of Nigeria has declared that it will stop accepting old N200, N500, and N1000 notes on January 31, 2023.
