The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Naira re-design and naira swap policy has stated that the parliament will continue to side with the masses and resist any policy that aggravates their sufferings.
Chairman of the Committee, Alhassan Ado Doguwa in a statement on Friday, appreciated some of the decisions taken by President Muhammadu Buhari as contained in his national broadcast.
He however said, a lot needs to be done to mitigate the suffering of Nigerians created by the Naira redesign crisis.
Doguwa said, “The steps taken so far by Mr. President leave much to be desired. The policy is at this time very unpopular and is capable of creating a crisis in the country that could jeopardize the upcoming general elections.
“Mr. President may of course had good intentions in using the policy to tackle insecurity, reduce corruption and engender the global best practice in fiscal policy management but unfortunately due to wrong timing, and the work of some criminal elements in both the CBN and the commercial banks, Nigerians are left suffering”.
He urged Nigerians to be calm and maintain law and order, adding that things would get better as various steps were being taken to address the matter and ease their sufferings.
He added, “We also urge Nigerians to continue to be calm and pursue their lawful businesses within the ambit of the law as we will continue to explore available opportunities to make sure that government does only what is right and in the overall interest of our people”.
The lawmakers met with the president hours after his nationwide broadcast on Thursday.
The President had in his broadcast declared that N200 banknotes will continue to circulate as legal tender with the new N200, N500, and N1000 banknotes for 60 days from February 10, 2023, to April 10 2023 after which the old N200 notes would also cease to be legal tender.
