The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Public Affairs, Ajuri Ngelale said that the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria CBN, Godwin Emefiele lied to President Muhammadu Buhari on the new Naira Policy.
According to him, Emefiele gave a false report to the president that the CBN had provided enough of the new naira notes to the masses to swap with the old notes.He said it was when the president discovered that Nigerians found it difficult to access the new naira notes that he gave approval for the February 10 deadline.
Ngegale in an interview with TVC news said that with the current scarcity of the currency, president Buhari as the defender of the masses is already reviewing the situation after his meeting with governors of the All Progressives Congress APC and would not hesitate to approve further extension of the deadline but stated that such approval would depend on reports from across the country in the coming days..
:“What we are working to do is to ensure that Mr. President is given effective and true information that the reports that have been given by the Central Bank of Nigeria that they have adequately supplied all banking branches in the country with sufficient amounts of the new Naira notes, that this is absolutely false. It is evident at this point.
“And of course, Mr. President, being the pro-people, defender of the masses that he has always been, did the right thing when the intelligence reached him that indeed, he was getting false intelligence from the Central Bank, which was to extend the deadline from January 31 to February 10.
“Now, clearly, with the adjustment in the deadline, it was also announced that other agencies such as the EFCC and the ICPC are now actively involved in the oversight about the distribution of the new Naira notes to banking branches across the country as well as rural cash swaps with the over 30,000 Super agents that are being sent out.
“So, there is an extra level of oversight and monitoring that has now been added to the process. But with that said, it is absolutely evident that President Muhammadu Buhari is pragmatic and he is going to defend the masses of this country. If he gets any intelligence that during the course of this 10 day extension window, that the wrong things have been done or the right things have not been done, that these new Naira notes have not been made available to the masses of our people across the urban centres and across the rural communities across the country, The President has that option on the table of extending that deadline and that will be left to his discretion.
“But certainly, it’s going to be based on what he sees happening across the country over the next several days. Of course, we are heartened by the new information we received today from the central bank that now over-the-counter provisions of the new Naira notes will be made available to banking customers across the country.” Ngelale said.
