Governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) under the aegis of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) have urged President Muhammadu Buhari to allow both the old and new naira notes to co-exist.
Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State disclosed this to journalists after the meeting with the President at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said while the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) mopped up over N2 trillion of the old note, it printed only N300 billion which was not enough.
El-Rufai, who was accompanied by his Kano State counterpart, Abdullahi Ganduje, said the apex bank should have printed at least half of what they mopped up, which is N1 trillion if it wanted to implement the cashless policy.
He said the party governors told the president that the masses were suffering and traders were losing their goods due to lack of patronage, citing the case of tomatoes seller that travelled to Lagos with their goods but all got wasted because people have no money to buy.
El-Rufai, who said the governors appealed to the president to reconsider his stance, added that he did not tell them yes or no.
He added that the PGF chairman, Atiku Bagudu, went back to meet the President privately with the hope to convince him.
At at the time of filing this report, he was being awaited to address the media.
Governor Ganduje, however, said President Buhari pledged to look into their request without giving any commitment to their request