The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to reconsider the manner with which the currency redesign policy has been implemented so far because it is anti-people.
Wike maintained that those who recommended the “anti-people monetary policy” do not love the president and are bent on tarnishing his legacy.
The Rivers governor said this during the Rivers State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Campaign Flag-off Rally for Okrika Local Government Area on Friday.
He urged the president to take a critical look at the socioeconomic chaos and hardship that the exercise has caused and revisit the policy to curb the pains of Nigerians.
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“This policy is anti-people. The new Naira note is not there. Even though I have money in my account, I cannot get N10,000. I cannot go and buy fuel. Who is losing? Is it not the masses? Is it not the people?” he queried.
He advised the president to stop listening to those who advised him on this monetary policy under the guise that it would curb vote buying.
The governor said those advisers do not mean well for Nigerians and cannot feel their sufferings.
Wike also dismissed the claim that the policy is being implemented to fight corruption and expressed doubt that such goals could be achieved within the three months left for the president to leave office.
“You’re merely fighting against the poor people. Mr President, I know the pressure, but please…this policy, it has nothing to fight corruption at all. It has nothing to fight politicians.
“This policy is aimed to suffer the people who elected us to govern over them. Our business is not to make the people to suffer. We all know how to fight corruption. We all know how to fight politicians. This particular one, it does not come in at all.”
Wike expressed dismay that people were being prevented from accessing money lodged in their bank accounts and small-scale commercial activities grounded for lack of cash.
According to him, there is reduced cash flow in circulation and even the redesigned Naira notes are hardly available to the citizenry.
“I know Mr President has good intention, but there are these people who believe they know more than everybody, they go and put the country in total chaos and that is what we are suffering now,” he said.
Wike stressed the futility of presenting debit cards to pay for food items bought from elderly women who depend on daily sales to raise money in the rural areas with prevailing illiteracy.
According to the governor, there is nowhere in the world where such currency change has been done conclusively within six months.