President Muhammadu Buhari said he would use the remaining seven days of the February 10 deadline to get to the bottom of new naira notes scarcity. This is just as protests have erupted in some parts of the country, as Nigerians hard pressed for cash to buy essential commodities have been pushed to the edge. President Buhari who was meeting with All Progressives Congress governors in Abuja Friday, noted that he was aware of the difficulties faced by the people and will act speedily to rectify the situation. “I will revert to the CBN and the Minting Company. There will be a decision one way or the other in the remaining seven days of the 10-day extension. “Some banks are inefficient and only concerned about themselves, even if a year is added, problems associated with selfishness and greed won’t go away,” he said.
However, the APC governors advised the President to allow the old notes to remain legal tender until the new notes were abundantly circulated. There were pockets of protests in Lagos and Ibadan as bank customers took the streets to vent their anger over their inability to get cash. In Ibadan many customers that had gone to the bank to withdraw money for the weekend were disappointed as they could not get either the old notes or the new notes. Bank gave governor N500m in new notes, El Rufai raises alarm.
