Cash swap: FG wants only old N200 banknotes to remain legal tender until April – Al-Rifai
Kaduna State Governor Nasir Al-Rifai revealed that the federal government has proposed that only old N200 banknotes be allowed to remain as legal tender until April 10, 2023.
The daily newsletter reported this in a statement released on Wednesday by Moiwa Adiki, Special Adviser for Media and Communication to Governor Al-Rifai.
The governor debunked allegations of all-progressive congressional governors’ rounds of meetings with the federal government on Wednesday.
However, he said, some senior officials in the government led by President Muhammadu Buhari have reached out by phone with some conservatives, including himself, to seek an end to the currency redesign crisis.
He said the federal government had allegedly destroyed the N500 and N1000 banknotes which had already been deposited.
He added that the proposal put forward by the federal government is an inappropriate solution to the suffering of Nigerians.
Instead, senior federal government officials contacted some governors, including Mallam Nasir al-Rifai, by phone to begin discussions about a possible out-of-court settlement. The proposed terms only allowed the old N200 notes to remain legal tender and be circulated by CBN until April 10, 2023. They claimed that CBN had already destroyed the old N500 and N1000 notes that were deposited but those still holding the old notes could redeem them until April 10, 2023.
“These were not considered as serious proposals for obvious reasons. Distribution of the old N200 banknotes alone would not be enough to alleviate the human suffering so prevalent in Kaduna State, and indeed in Nigeria today. They knew this was why they wrongly claimed that CBN had already destroyed the old N500 banknotes and N1000. The statement stated that it was contrary to the fact available to the Governors that the old banknotes were in the custody of branches of commercial banks across Nigeria as of the evening of Monday, 13th February, and no N500 or N1000 had been destroyed.
Cash swap: FG wants only old N200 banknotes to remain legal tender until April – Al-Rifai
