Babatunde Fashola, minister of works and housing, says the
naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) “is hurting Nigerians” and needs to be
reviewed.
The apex bank has fixed February 10 as the new deadline for
the swap of old naira notes.
It initially fixed January 31 as the deadline but many
Nigerians have not been able to get the new N200, N500, and N1000 notes,
prompting a scarcity.
Speaking with Morayo Afolabi-Brown, a talk show moderator,
on Wednesday on Instagram Live, Fashola said Bola Tinubu, presidential
candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was fighting for Nigerians
when he expressed concern about the scarcity of the new notes.
“I feel sympathy for
the Nigerian people and what they have had to go through. Sometimes policies
play out like this in the process of implementation, sometimes it all ends well
and sometimes it calls for reconsideration and review,” Fashola said.
“In spite of the fact the CBN has acted within the spirit
and letters of its independence by law, it is important to remember that we
serve the public and the public says it is hurting, it is important to take a
step back and ask where it is hurting and how we can make it better. It must
not be a matter of ego.
“All the credit must go to our candidate being one of the
first strong voices, first voice out of the candidates to speak out in
Abeokuta.
“Though some were
quick to say he was fighting Buhari or he was fighting his own party but it is
his nature as a fighter for people. Our candidate hasn’t said don’t change the
naira but it is hurting people.
“So the implementation needs a relook.”
‘I WAS NOT TINUBU’S PUPPET’
The minister said he was never a puppet to Tinubu while he
was the governor of Lagos but he consulted with him because “of his
experience”.
“When I was governor
I realized that someone sat in my chair for eight years, that person is still
alive, that person has had time to reflect, that person would have made
mistakes and I told myself if I wanted to succeed I shouldn’t learn from my own
mistakes I should learn from his experience,” he said.
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