By Godwin Ebiboute Leloh
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has appealed to Nigerians to allow the naira redesign policy work.
He said this in an interview with State House Correspondents after meeting President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential villa in Abuja.
He said the pains currently associated with the policy are temporary, making a case that the policy would enhance government’s fight against corruption and boost the economy.
He said: “The truth is that we are all servants. We are serving Nigerians. As far as we are concerned the Attorney General has spoken on this matter and the President has sealed the whole issue this morning in his broadcast. I think I can only just appeal to Nigerians, let’s allow this policy to work.
“This policy is one policy that goes to reduce the problem of corruption and illicit financial flaws; this policy goes to resolve some of the problems in the economy; this policy also goes to reducing the level of insecurity in the country.
“So these three issues which are the tripod of this administration’s policy are all embedded in this policy. We should just allow it to work. We keep saying this, there are some temporary pains, but I can assure Nigerians that the long-run benefit to Nigeria is overwhelming and we should just give it a chance to work.”
In his national broadcast on Thursday morning, Buhari directed the CBN to allow the old N200 note circulate till the eve of the 2023 governorship elections.
The president said the policy had limited the role of money in politics.
Commenting, Emefiele said, “President has given his directives, I have met with about 15 banks this morning and we have given them a directive on how to get all the old N200 available effective today.”
