President Muhammadu Buhari says the redesign of naira notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will proceed as planned.
Buhari said this on Wednesday after meeting with King Charles III at Buckingham Palace in the United Kingdom.
On October 26, Godwin Emefiele, governor of the CBN, announced the plan to redesign the currency to control money supply and aid security agencies in tackling illicit financial flow.
The redesigned notes include: N200, N500 and N1000.
The decision has continued to generate public outburst, as experts insist it would negatively affect the economy.
Speaking less than 48-hours after the announcement, Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national planning, said the ministry was not consulted by the CBN before it took its decision.
Responding to the minister’s statement, Buhari said the CBN had his support to redesign the naira notes.
In Buhari’s latest comments on the matter, after meeting with the UK monarch, he told reporters that enough time has been given by the CBN for Nigerians to deposit the present naira notes in banks in exchange for the newly redesigned ones which will be issued by December 15, 2022.
“On this change of currency, there will be a lot of money but time has been given from October to December. Three months is enough for whatever money you have, to get it changed through the legal system,” Buhari said.
“So, I don’t know why people are complaining about it.”
Declaring his full support for the naira redesign, the president said “there’s no going back.”
Buhari also said politicians will not be allowed to mobilise resources and thugs to intimidate voters in the 2023 general election.
“My aim is to make sure that Nigerians believe that we respect them as an administration,” he said.
“So, Nigerians should vote for whoever they like from whichever political party. Nobody will be allowed to mobilise resources and thugs to intimidate people in any constituency.
“That is what I want to go down in Nigerian history.”
