NAIRA SWAP: Banks ‘Selfish, Greedy’, Buhari Says

– Seeks 7 Days To Resolve Cash Crunch

President Muhammadu Buhari has accused commercial banks in the country of frustrating the Naira redesign and cash swap policy of his administration out of “selfishness and greed”.

Advertisement

Speaking on Friday when he hosted governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the State House, Buhari said the banks were not committed to the policy being implemented through the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The governors were said to have complained about the hardship being experienced by Nigerians due to the cash crunch occasioned by the policy.

But President Buhari appealed to the governors and the citizens to give him seven days to liaise with the CBN and find solutions to the problem

“Some banks are inefficient and only concerned about themselves,” Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant, Garba Shehu, quoted him as telling the governors, adding “even if a year is added, problems associated with selfishness and greed won’t go away.”

Advertisement

Buhari promised to “revert to the CBN and the Minting Company. There will be a decision one way or the other in the remaining seven days of the 10-day extension.”

According to Shehu, the APC governors urged Buhari to order a “concurrent flourish of the new and old notes till the end of the year”.

The presidential aide added, “The President said when he considered giving the approval to the policy, he demanded an undertaking from the CBN that no new notes will be printed in a foreign country and they in turn gave him assurances that there was enough capacity, manpower and equipment to print the currency for local needs. He said he needed to go back to find out what was actually happening.

“President Buhari told the Governors that, being closer to the people, he had heard their cries and will act in a way that there will be a solution.”

Leave a comment

Advertisement