Naira redesign: Don’t make Nigerians scapegoats, says Atiku

The PDP standard bearer, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has told the Federal Government not to allow Nigerians to be made 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 Federal Government 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 Federal Government 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 small holder enterprises are all currently in serious distress. This should be addressed urgently to save the economy from collapse.”

Atiku said that he had on Jan. 28, made a crucial intervention on the redesign of the naira, calling on the Federal Government 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 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.