New Naira: Don’t Make Nigerians Scapegoats, Atiku Begs FG

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has beseeched the Federal Government to avoid making Nigerians scapegoats “in the ongoing battle of titans over the redesign of the naira’’.

Atiku made the appeal in a statement by his media aides in Abuja on Tuesday.

He said that the FG had a duty to swiftly see to it that commercial banks did not constitute themselves into stumbling blocks on “the well-thought-out policy of naira redesign.”

“It is commendable that the FG has rather preferred to work behind the scenes, based on the intelligence it is believed to have received, regarding suspicions that some presidential candidates may have stashed billions of naira as war-chest for vote-buying.’’

The former vice-president lamented that there had been widespread anxiety across the country, arising from poor execution of the naira redesign policy by commercial banks in the country.

“Businesses and cash-dependent smallholder enterprises are all currently in serious distress. This should be addressed urgently to save the economy from collapse.’’

Atiku said that he had on January 28, made a crucial intervention in the redesign of the naira, calling on the FG and the CBN to consider adjusting the deadline date, to address the challenges being faced by members of the public.

He re-stated that the policy was being mismanaged, unlike what was obtained in other parts of the world, where similar policies were implemented.

According to him, millions of Nigerians are being driven into grave desperation and despondency on account of the shortcomings of the execution of the policy.

“In recent weeks, social tension has been growing across Nigeria on account of the poor management of the redesign of the naira policy,’’ the presidential hopeful added.

NAN