The least is yet to be heard in the on going new Naira notes crunch that hit Nigerians like a thunderstorm as the Central Bank (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele has reportedly proposed to President Muhammadu Buhari, a new plan to print the new naira notes abroad in order to cushion the effects of its scarcity.
The President who was reportedly shocked by Emefiele’s proposal, was said to have disclosed this during his recent meeting with the All Progressives (APC) governors. It would be recalled that the APC governors had expressed misgivings over the currency swap’s timing and its likely consequence across all classes and parts of the country.
This latest twist in the New banknotes policy, according to analysts, evidently indicates that Nigerians may have to endure the hardships the exercise has already generated nation-wide in the days ahead.
According to sources, President Buhari who was obviously surprised at the turn of developments was said to have informed those at the meeting that Emefiele had assured him, prior to the implementation of the currency policy that the CBN had the institutional capacity to flood the market with the currency bills while mopping up the old notes from the country simultaneously.
But a source in the Presidency confided in The New Diplomat that Emefiele obviously failed to think through the enormity of the situation at hand before rushing to the President. The source reasons that Printing new notes abroad will have serious implications for sustaining the deadline of February 10, or even anytime in the very near future. According to him ” the logistical burden of signing a contract and starting the process may impose an uncertain deadline and increase the sufferings of Nigerians who are already groaning under the new policy with long queues, people slumping and setting off chaos at bank offices and ATM machines across the country.”
“The president said Emefiele had assured him he had all the processes in place before the policy was begun,” revealed one of the governors at the meeting. “He said Emefiele gave a bill on what it would cost to implement the policy and the president approved and signed. He is now surprised that even the bank CEOs don’t have enough money.”
The president also observed that the bank chief executives have been silent over Emefiele’s claims that he had furnished the banks with enough money.
“The CEOs are quiet because they are afraid of backlash from the CBN,” said the governor.
The bank CEOs have neither confirmed not denied the CBN governor’s assertion. But their inability to dispense the new naira notes indicates clear difficulties in the banks with regards to carrying out the new note policy.
The Governors, however, advised the president to postpone the deadline and allow both the new and old notes to exist side by side as it would enable the old notes to ease gradually out of the market.
The Governors who were of the opinion that President was being told lies by some unnamed individuals in the government who are allegedly desperate to scuttle the elections process.
This hint was dropped by the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai who said some fifth columnists in the villa who had lost out in the APC primaries were responsible for the twin troubles of fuel scarcity and cash crunch.
The Kaduna State Governor made this stunning revelation after the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, had cried out at a rally in Abeokuta about fifth columnists who wanted to derail his presidential aspiration.
Similarly, at the APC Ekiti Mega Rally, Tinubu alleged that their design was to foist an interim national government on the country.
This ugly development has already thrown the nation into serious challenges as the country has witnessed two bursts of protests in Ibadan and Benin.
However, one of the APC Governors who, during the visit to the President, said his state was just recovering from the EndSars destructions and would not want to go through such a similar nightmare anymore.
Recall that the president had asked the governors to give him a week to revert to them on his next course of action.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and his Labour Party(LP)counterpart, Peter Obi, had asked suffering Nigerians to bear with the CBN governor.
The PDP flag bearer described the suffering as “little inconvenience,’” while Obi conveyed the same sentiment and described it as “some inconvenience.”
