Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has claimed that one of his fellow governors was given N500million in new Naira notes by a bank, as Nigerians lament about the inability to get the cash.
El-Rufai, said this in an exclusive interview with BBC, part of which was published on Friday.
He stated that the 10-day extension given by the Central Bank of Nigeria was not enough as more time was needed.
“Yesterday, I was told that one of our governors got N500m in new notes from the bank. It was the bank that gave him.
“It is not wrong to change currencies, every country do but you can not change it at this season of elections and give this limited time, where in this world that ever happened?
“Politicians and big businessmen who are targeted by the policy have their ways of accessing the new notes, some of them own the banks, but what of poor, petty traders?
“What of the average man on the street selling tomatoes and trying to survive? That is why I have said that the 10-day extension is not enough. We want months of extension.
“All APC governors met on the issue, we saw how people suffer, we support the change of currency but time should be extended to months.
“We said let CBN, banks managers and we governors sat and discussed the issue, let’s work together and have a proper plan on how to go about it, we should have plans to follow people to their homes, villages and change the notes for them but not forcing them to go to banks which take some of them a hundreds kilometers.
“There is nowhere in the world that currency exchange doesn’t happen but they don’t give limited time such as this one for currency swap and definitely not close to elections.”
El-Rufai’s thought aligns with that of Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, who also said the policy would not affect the rich.
The presidential candidate of the New Nigerian Political Party (NNPP), criticized the extended deadline of the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes, saying it is not enough.
As a guest on Channels TV Sunrise Daily on Thursday, Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso said the government should instead extend the deadline by six months.
“Actually, we in the New Nigerian Political Party (NNPP) are not comfortable with the three months, not even with the 10 days they are talking about,” he said.
“You see, many people in Abuja who are in the comfort of their offices or homes wouldn’t understand what is happening outside. Those of us who now have the opportunity to travel around the country, from village to village, town to town… are in contact with the people, and over the years I had many opportunities to meet and interact with the people, and not only that.”
He explained that he was the first governor in Nigeria to introduce an electronic payment system in the country, noting that the federal government could have borrowed from his experiences before implementation.