The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) slammed Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar on Saturday for encouraging the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) not to extend its Naira swap policy deadline beyond the 10 days stated by the bank.
According to news reports, the CBN has extended the deadline for the exchange of outdated naira notes to February 10, allowing Nigeria to carry out the exchange.
The CBN set January 31 as the deadline, however many Nigerians have been unable to obtain the new N200, N500, and N1000 notes, resulting in a scarcity in the country.
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Atiku, who first advocated for the deadline extension, recently advised President Muhammadu Buhari and the Central Bank of Nigeria not to extend it any further, since doing so would contradict the purpose of the new naira note.
In a press statement personally signed and distributed by the AYCF’s National President, Yerima Shettima, Atiku was deemed to be on his own for lately defying the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, and the National Assembly on the policy.
He asked what Atiku planned to gain from the problems residents are currently facing as a result of the cash swap policy.
The group advised Atiku not to politicize the policy, calling his remarks self-serving.
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Shettima said: “Former VP Atiku’s call was out of place because it is coming on the heels of growing complaint about the kind of sabotage that is causing untold hardship to Nigerians over this policy.
“Atiku stands alone in his call on the CBN not to review the deadline. He is against prominent Nigerians who made passionate appeal for deadline review, notably the sultan of Sokoto, the Senate and House of Representatives leaders and experts.
“What purpose will the current difficulties people are facing serve Atiku? Why would he rather identify with the need to let the difficulties faced by especially rural folks continue and for how long?”
While noting that the policy was beneficial because, as of the end of June 2022, available statistics indicated that N2.72 trillion out of the N3.26 trillion in circulation was outside commercial bank vaults, the group said it supports Nigerians’ calls for an extension.
“We are of course aware that the economy has suffered heavy, avoidable bruises.
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“The AYCF wishes to state that it will be suicidal for this nation to consider Atiku’s advice against a review of the CBN cash swap deadline, because for any policy to succeed, it must have a human face and we believe the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, won’t turn against overwhelming public interest, like Atiku has just done.
“The AYCF is therefore warning the ex-VP not to turn this policy into a weapon of political manipulation or political attention-seeking opportunity. He should forget about the continuation of a policy in the midst of loud calls for positive review for the sake of his selfish political and self-serving interests. We will not stop emphasising that Nigeria is never a Banana Republic.
“We advise the ex-VP to concentrate on his presidential campaigns by showcasing what he has done to merit the votes of Nigerians and stop playing politics with our economic policies and associated challenges. We thought the ex-VP would tell Nigerians what he has to offer in fighting inflation and weak national currency,” the group added.
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