New naira notes: Buhari approves CBN Policy amid controversy

•Says only people with illicit money panic

President of the federal republic of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari has approved the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to redesign new naira notes.

The president said he approved the policy over his conviction that it was in the interest of the nation.

Buhari’s approval was contained in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, on Sunday.

Reacting to the controversy surrounding the redesign policy, Buhari said that only those with illicit money hidden away will incur losses and not those involved in legitimate businesses and workers.

He stressed that the three months window given for citizens to deposit the old notes at the bank was also not too short.

Buhari, in an interview in Hausa scheduled to be aired on Wednesday, said: “President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday said that the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to launch new designs and replace high-value Naira notes had his support and is convinced that the nation will gain a lot by doing so.

“Speaking in a Hausa radio interview with the famous journalist Halilu Ahmed Getso, and Kamaluddeen Sani Shawai to be aired Wednesday Morning on Tambari TV on Nilesat, President Buhari said reasons given to him by the CBN convinced him that the economy stood to benefit from a reduction in inflation, currency counterfeiting and the excess cash in circulation.

”People with illicit money buried under the soil will have a challenge with this but workers, businesses with legitimate incomes, will face no difficulties at all, ” he added.