CBN’s naira redesign policy political — Obaseki

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has described the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, policy to redesign the N200, N500 and N1,000 notes as  a political agenda.

Obaseki stated this while inaugurating the Edo State Peoples Democratic Party Women Campaign Council at the Presidential Campaign secretariat in Benin City, Edo State.He said: “How can we sit down? They say we should not bring our naira and give it to them again. That they want to change it. Is that our priority? How does change of currency reduce the price of food in the market? They say they want to change Nigerian currency, how much is the dollar today? They should have left our currency for us.

“Now they say that they want to change it. We can’t buy dollars. I am an economist. I can tell you that this policy by the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria has no basis. There is no basis for it. This is purely political.

“When you decide to change a currency in such a reckless  manner, 30 days before an election, all you can deduce is that it is purely political. There is nothing urgent in changing our currency today.”

He noted that such urgency in redesigning the naira should be focused on feeding the nation and managing its foreign exchange rate. “The urgency for us is how to get food for our citizens so that we can remove the starvation of the land. The urgency is how to maintain discipline in our monetary policy so that we can manage our foreign exchange rate because we are so import dependent.”