Naira scarcity: Order Emefiele to supply banks, Afenifere tells Buhari

The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to order the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele, to supply commercial banks with both the old and new naira notes.

 It also called on the president to prevail on the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to ensure that petroleum products were widely available.

 It expressed further concerns over the scarcity of naira notes despite the comments made by the president last week that he was not against the implementation of the Supreme Court order.

 The group called on Buhari to make good his declaration regarding the Supreme Court judgement extending the deadline of old notes till December 31.

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 National Publicity Secretary of the organisation, Jare Ajayi, noted that reports from various parts of the country indicated that people were still finding it very difficult to obtain cash from banks and points of sale (POS) operators.  

“This is making life very difficult for our people just as the situation is forcing many businesses to go under, especially small and medium scale businesses,” the group said in a statement. 

 Buhari had through his spokesman, Garba Shehu, declared that he did not stop either the CBN governor or the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), from complying with the order of the apex court.

 But Afenifere lamented that the naira scarcity had lingered with banks still putting a limit on the amount a customer could withdraw. 

 It warned that the country and the citizens “are in for serious economic and social upheavals” if the trend continued.