President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday assured Nigerians that the scarcity of new naira notes being experienced by them will soon end.
He said the Central Bank of Nigeria and commercial banks were working to resolve the challenges.
“A number of initiatives by the Central Bank and all commercial banks are underway to speed up distribution of the new notes and do all that is necessary to forestall cash squeeze and chaos,” the President said in a statement made available to PMParrot by his Senior Special Assistant on Media & Publicity, Garba Shehu.
President Buhari assured that the government would ensure that citizens are unharmed in their businesses and no disruption is caused to the entire supply chain arising from the currency swap due to end shortly.
The President was reacting to reports of long queues of people waiting for hours for their turn to deposit old notes and get new ones.
The situation had triggered public anger and opposition’s criticism.
President Buhari reiterated that the currency changes were aimed at people hoarding illicit funds and not the common man.
He said it had become necessary to prevent counterfeits, corruption, and terrorist funding.
This, he assured, will stabilise and strengthen the economy.
While taking note that the poorest section of society is facing hardship as they often keep hard cash at home for various expenses, President Buhari gave strong assurances that the government will not leave them to their own fate.
Packaged by Alice Egbedele
