The People’s Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Waziri Atiku Abubakar has implored authorities of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to reconsider it monetary policy by bringing back into circulation, the old ₦500 and ₦1000 notes.
The former Vice President, who made this revelation on his official Facebook page, furthered that the eventual withdrawal of the notes has brought untold hardship and suffering upon Nigerians, making it extremely difficult for them to access their hard-earned money.
He wrote, “The CBN currency policy is hurting ordinary citizens and those who legitimately earned their money. The apex bank should, as a matter of urgency, allow commercial banks to join the CBN in the collection of the deposits of old N500 and N1000 notes. The new currency should be immediately made available in sufficient quantities to alleviate the suffering of the masses. I assure you that when we come to power by the mandate of your votes, the PDP administration will not allow any Nigerian who legitimately earned their money to lose a single kobo of it. You can take that promise to the bank because our aim is to create prosperity and not to impoverish our people. -AA”
Atiku’s sudden volte face has stirred series of reactions in the political space as EVENTNG recalls that the PDP candidate has earlier backed the Buhari-led federal government for taking a bold step by withdrawing the old notes from circulation in order to prevent vote buying, thereby noting that only corrupt politicians would criticise such policy by the country’s apex financial institution.
