Senator Smart Adeyemi (APC Kogi West) has attacked President Muhammadu Buhari’s seven-day pledge to end the currency scarcity situation, saying it is far too long for Nigerians to suffer the agony brought on by the poorly managed cashless programme.
He expressed concern about the continuous paucity of Naira notes for Nigerians to cash for daily needs.
Senator Adeyemi, who spoke on Saturday at a news conference in Abuja on the problem that scarcity is causing in the polity, stated that if the matter is not addressed promptly, Nigeria’s peace and security are significantly jeopardized, as Nigerians are already turning violent.
Recall that President Buhari has requested for 7 days to take a decision on the naira redesign after his meeting with Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) on Friday.
He stated that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Goodwin Emefiele, is receiving curses from Nigerians on a regular basis about the policies and should be mindful of the impending consequences.
“As good as the cashless concept may be, its implementation has been awful and evil, based on the uncountable problems that ordinary Nigerians face on a daily basis,” he noted.
“How would a policy be conceived without taking into consideration, survival of the downtrodden masses who live on daily pay or earnings?
“As good as this policy is, we should not allow the poor masses to carry the pains for the atrocity committed by the elites.
“I want to tell the President Muhammadu Buhari that seven days is too long a time for solution to the problem on ground.
“Being a statesman who fought for the unity of this country and a man who was doggedly committed to rule this country, I’m calling on President Buhari that seven days is too long a period. The pains that Nigerians are experiencing is too much.
“Three days is like one year for people to bear. I am saying this because we were elected not appointed, so I have the responsibility to give the feedback of the pains of the people that elected us.
“Those elected are the direct contact to the people. In some instances people are paying N2500 to get N10, 000 of the old notes not even there.
“Those artisans who live on daily earnings are dying silently and I want to support all the positions taken by Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and the President should listen.
“We that are speaking out are the friends, we are his children who love him so that this government should succeed and hand over on May 29th peacefully.
“We have contributed so much for the enthronement of democracy and some of us will not allow for democracy to be derailed in any way.
“This is a threat to peace and tranquility of the country and that is what is giving room for interpretation, and insinuations that some people around Buhari are behind…but rightly so rightly wrong…but there are reasons to believe,” he said.