Ondo State Governor Pleads For Change In Naira Policy (SEE DETAILS)

Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State is urging President Muhammadu Buhari to obey a Supreme Court ruling on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s policy on Naira redesign and swap.

Akeredolu argues that the policy is not only unpopular and counter-productive, but also bears the insidious seeds of potential conflagration in the land, posing a serious danger to democratic governance and threatening to disrupt the general elections.

He asserts that there is incontrovertible evidence bordering on miscalculation, error of judgement, and/or disinformation on the part of the policy makers, especially the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Emefiele, on the failed implementation of the policy, which is causing immeasurable hardship and agony for Nigerians.

Akeredolu believes that while Buhari and Emefiele are empowered under the law to exercise some powers on the monetary policy, it cannot be the original intention of the policy to create hardship and agony for Nigerians.

He argues that any measure purportedly designed to ameliorate their conditions must not reduce the entire populace to a beggarly existence, noting that the safety of the people is the supreme law.

The Governor contends that a policy presented as currency swap must not be construed by both the reasonable members and people of average intelligence in the society to convey the deplorable impression of contrived subterfuge manifest in the official confiscation of legitimate deposits of the people in banks as a counter measure against electoral malfeasance, terrorism, and banditry.

He asserts that the implementation of this policy has been woeful despite claims to the contrary, and that the suffering of the masses, occasioned by the non-availability of new notes to replace the old ones, could have been averted if the strategy of a gradual and systematic withdrawal of the old currency notes had been adopted

In conclusion, Akeredolu calls on President Buhari to allow both the old and new notes to co-exist until such a time when normalcy returns to the country.

He believes that it will be a fitting parting gift for the people of this country, especially the downtrodden, who feel the negative impact of the poorly implemented policy.

The Governor contends that the negative impact which the mediocre and mischievous implementation of the policy by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria is having on the poor people and small business owners defeats all the good programmes of the Federal Government designed to elevate as many people as possible out of the morass of poverty.