A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Bauchi, Alhaji Sani Al’ameen Muhammed, has said redesigning naira notes by President Muhammadu Buhari will reduce electoral fraud, using money to get votes insecurity and corruption in the country.
It would be recalled that it was reported that on December 15, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) after getting President Muhammdu Buhari’s approval, will release the redesigned naira notes of N200, N500, and N1000.
Al’ameen, in a press statement issued to journalists in Bauchi yesterday, commended President Buhari for taking the bold steps to allow the apex bank to redesign the currencies.
Part of the statement read: “It is heart-warming that the President demonstrated courage in taking this bold decision which many believe will bring sanity to the currency management situation in Nigeria.
“All is not well when one considered what the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, complained that Nigerians are hoarding about N2.7 trillion from the financial system, because out of the N3.3 trillion in circulation, only N600 billion is in the vaults of commercial banks”.
According to him, the significant hoarding of banknotes by members of the public is worrisome, with statistics showing that over 80% of the currency in circulation are outside the vaults of commercial banks.
Al’ameen, a one-time gubernatorial aspirant said this shouldn’t be allowed to happen, and advised Nigerians to support the initiative in the best interest of Nigeria and advised the CBN to monitor both the financial system in particular, and the economy in general, and always act in good faith for the achievement of the Bank’s objectives and the betterment of the country.
He urged the anti-graft agencies to go after hoarders of naira, and advise all stakeholders to support the crusade with patriotism to sanitize and stabilize the system in the best interest of the country.
