Redesigning of Naira: Our currency now valueless – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned CBN governor Godwin Emefiele’s plan to redesign Nigeria’s currency, claiming the announcement has made the naira valueless.

Our naira today has no value even in the hands of our people. That is why we invited you, to let you know what is happening and what we are going to do to make it work,” said a spokesman for the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Charles Aniagwu, said on Tuesday in Abuja while briefing journalists that the PDP was deeply worried about the country’s poverty level and ready to provide solutions to reverse the trend.

On Saturday, the naira’s downward spiral reached another historical low under President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime, trading at N800 to $1 on the parallel exchange platform Aboki Forex.

The PDP asserted that its “covenant with Nigerians” will bring Nigeria out of poverty and herald an era of prosperity and sustainable development in a PDP government come 2023, according to Dele Momodu, the director of strategic communications of the campaign council.

Mr Momodu explained that PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, was deeply concerned by the cost of living and other economic challenges.

“We are, however, assuring Nigerians that help is on the way. The economy and the ‘kitchen table issues’, as the Americans will say, remain a focal point of the PDP Recovery Agenda,” stated Mr Momodu, advising the CBN to strengthen the naira rather than the plan to redesign it.

He added, “The declaration by the Central Bank of Nigeria last week that it was going to redesign some denominations in the naira has expectedly generated varied reactions from Nigerians. Already, the value of the naira has plummeted since the announcement, and efforts must be intensified to address the decline in the value of the naira.”

The PDP official also mentioned that the economy, “on its knees at the moment,” could “hardly afford further devaluation of the Nigerian currency.”

Mr Momodu further noted that the integrity of the 2023 general elections must remain a subject of concern to all lovers of democracy.

(NAN)