President Muhammadu Buhari has assured that government will ensure that citizens are unharmed in their businesses and no disruption is caused to the entire supply chain arising from the currency swap (new notes) due to end shortly.
The President gave the assurance on Saturday while reacting to reports of long queues of people waiting for hours for their turn to deposit old notes and get new notes, triggering public anger and opposition’s criticism.
President Buhari, in a statement issued by his spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, restated that the currency changes were aimed at people hoarding illicit funds and not the common man, and that it had become necessary to prevent counterfeits, corruption, and terrorist funding.
This, he assured, will stabilize and strengthen the economy.
The President, while taking note that the poorest section of society was facing hardship as they often keep hard cash at home for various expenses, assured that the government would not leave them to their own fate.
He reiterated that a number of initiatives by the Central Bank and all commercial banks were underway to speed up the distribution of the new notes and do all that was necessary to forestall cash squeeze and chaos.