Labour Party candidate for president Peter Obi has discussed the scarcity of the new naira notes.
Obi called with Nigerians on Sunday morning to have patience with the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria regarding the shortage of the newly designed naira notes and the difficult circumstances felt all over the nation.
Obi, who is active on Twitter, claimed that redesigning a currency was not unique to Nigeria and that it would result in short-term inconveniences but long-term economic benefits. He added that the implementation could have been improved, though.
In addition, the former governor of Anambra State and LP candidate asked the CBN and commercial banks to step up efforts to make the new naira available to Nigerians.
Obi said, “The currency redesign is not peculiar to Nigeria. It is an exercise that comes with some inconvenience and pain but it has significant longterm economic and social benefits. Even though there are improvements that can be made.
“I urge Nigerians to bear with the CBN and Federal Government with the hope that the general populace and Nigeria will harvest the gains that will come with the reforms.
“We equally implore the CBN and the banks to expedite efforts to make the new currency available to small depositors and the unbanked in order to reduce the pains of my fellow Nigerians, especially the underprivileged and those living far away from banks in the rural areas.”
According to Bifotad.com, many Nigerians have continued to bemoan the new notes’ lack of availability and scarcity, which has severely hampered economic activity across the country.
The CBN revealed its intention to redesign the three banknotes on October 26, 2022. On November 23, 2022, the president revealed the revised N200, N500, and N1,000 notes; the apex bank set a deadline for the old notes’ validity of January 31.
However, the CBN gave in last Sunday to pressure and extended the deadline for replacing old naira notes with the redesigned ones until February 10, 2023.
There is also an additional seven-day grace period until February 17 for returning old notes to the CBN.