President Muhammadu Buhari says the cashless policy and naira swap by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have short and long term benefits for the country in dealing with insecurity and corruption.
Buhari, however, said the CBN needs to take the recommendation of a parliamentary committee to rectify identified problems.
The President said this while receiving briefing from members of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on cashless policy and naira swap at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Thursday.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, was also present at the meeting.
According to a statement issued by his spokesman, Garba Shehu, President Buhari said his speech earlier on Thursday was comprehensive enough and was adequate as a response to the general outcry about the problems associated with the currency exchange.
Buhari, who accused banks of being a problem, described the aim of the cashless policy as “very good, security-wise as seen from the lessening of kidnappings and associated corrupt practices.”
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Speaking, Emefiele assured the President that N200 banknotes taken out of circulation will be moved back from today (Thursday).
The CBN Governor, as directed by President Buhari, explained that the cashless policy was a global policy.
“Nigeria must go cashless. It is a global policy, checking insecurity and fighting corruption,” Emefiele said.
He stated that CBN senior officers had all been sent out, complimented by “super agents”, to take new currencies to unbanked rural populations, expressing optimism that the problems he described as “temporary and passing” will go away in no distant time.
Emefiele disclosed that he had met 15 top banks earlier in the day in an effort to resolve prevailing problems and will do so again on evening Thursday, assuring that “we are at the end of the problem”.
The CBN boss further promised that by the end of February, the apex will bring into circulation between N700-N800 billion in excess of what is needed to run the economy, stating emphatically that it is not possible to put back more than N3 trillion if the economy is to be healthy.
Emefiele also promised that the CBN will not be a problem with elections, saying they will hold successfully as far as the bank is concerned.
The House Majority Leader and Chairman of the Ad-Hoc Committee, Alhassan Ado Doguwa, said the meeting with President Buhari was necessitated by the need to bring him up to date on the “problems of implementation and unintended consequences” of the new cash policy.
In acknowledging the quality of the President’s broadcast to Nigerians on Thursday, the House Leader said the legislature and the government were on the same page over the goals of the policy.
Doguwa, however, said more is needed to be done to remove the “hardship and inconveniences” that have trailed the policy’s implementation.
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