CSOs declares support for Emefiele on Naira swap deadline, say Governors are Saboteurs

Civil Society Organisations of Nigeria (CSOs) have declared support for the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, on his insistence on the February 10 deadline for the swapping of the redesigned Naira notes N200, N500, and N1,000 denominations across the country. The CSOs accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) governors and others challenging the Naira redesign monetary policy as sabotaging the government.

National Daily gathered that a member of the CSOs, Gabriel Ojemena, had declared: “on our electoral process, it is now obvious to Nigerians that it is only the vote buyers that are complaining. “This policy is facing a syndicated attack from a group of governors who we have termed the ‘G10 governors’.

“We have uncovered a grand plot by the G10 governors who have resolved to make Nigeria ungovernable for President Muhammadu Buhari if he refuses to reverse the new naira policy.

“These G10 governors are mopping the money and stopping it from circulation.”

Ojemena was cited to have further said that “the new notes printed by the CBN was hijacked, so, it did not trickle down to the masses”. He noted that the people who withdrew the new Naira notes from commercial banks have not allowed it to circulate.

According to Ojemena, “They are withholding the money using various means, including deploying agents who use multiple ATM cards. They go into the banks with a lot of ATM cards. They pull this cash, take it home to their masters.

“They withdraw this money, colluding with their banker agents to continue to drop the monies in the banks and buying of cash from business places that are ordinarily making huge cash transactions like petrol stations, supermarkets, and departmental stores.

“This has made some of these businesses insist on only cash payments as the profit they make from the sales of the naira covers for the loss of business from those who do not have the cash to pay.”

Ojemena maintained that the perceived  sabotage would put more pressure on the system, leading to abandoning or reversal of the monetary policy.

Ojemena expressed that the CSOs were of the view that the G10 governors can “cry all they want” because Nigerians are happy that the policy has hit those political leaders hard and “curtailed their excesses.”

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