Naira redesign policy poorly implemented to derail general elections –El-rufai

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, on Sunday insisted the Naira redesign policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), was poorly implemented to sabotage the forthcoming polls.

Since the national broadcast by President Muhammadu Buhari last Thursday which directed only N200 notes to remain legal tender till April 10, Nigerians have been struggling to cope with the situation occasioned by the policy.

El-Rufai, who had earlier insisted all the old notes remain legal tender in Kaduna in compliance with the subsisting order of the Supreme Court, maintained that the policy was an unmitigated failure.

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The governor in a series of tweets also accused the apex financial institution of confiscating hard-earned money of Nigerians as against what was expected in the currency swap policy.

El-Rufai wrote: “Currency redesign was approved by the President and announced. Currency recoloring resulted.

“Currency swap was envisaged by s.20(3) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act as approved by PMB. Swap means I take N100,000 to the bank in old notes & I receive N100,000 immediately in new notes. No more, no less.

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“During implementation of the cash swap, the CBN withdrew over N2 trillion from circulation but printed only N400 billion, so in effect, currency confiscation was then unilaterally and unlawfully implemented by the CBN. Trade and exchange have collapsed. Human suffering, impoverishment and economic contraction resulted.

“The policy objective was derailed into a deliberate national fiasco to sabotage the elections in the name of preventing vote-buying. All efforts to get CBN to implement what was lawfully approved failed.

“Some State Governments had no choice but to approach the Supreme Court for adjudication. The APC as a party and the Progressive Governors Forum are unanimous that policy implementation must be reviewed, and full compliance of the subsisting ruling of the Supreme Court be observed until final judgment on the suit instituted by the State Governments.”