President Muhammadu Buhari wades into New Naira Notes Scarcity

President Muhammadu Buhari says efforts are ongoing to ensure improved distribution of the new naira notes.

In a statement on Saturday by Garba Shehu, presidential spokesperson, the president said the decision to redesign the naira notes was to address hoarding of illicit funds.

While acknowledging reports of long queues at banks, Buhari said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is working on initiatives to “prevent chaos” over the distribution of the new notes.

“President Muhammadu Buhari, Saturday 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 due to end shortly,” the statement reads.

“Reacting to reports of long queues of people waiting for hours for their turn to deposit old notes and get new ones, triggering public anger and opposition’s criticism, President Buhari reiterated 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.