SIX days to the February 25 presidential and National Assembly polls, candidates and political parties are devising ways to mitigate the effects of the raging Naira scarcity on their electoral quests.Currently, there is tension in the polity on account of the scarcity of the new N200, N500 and 1000 notes, which has been worsened by fuel scarcity.
Since the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, introduced the redesigned Naira and cash limit policy of N500,000 and N5,000,000 a week for individuals and corporate organisations, respectively, many politicians have been kept on their toes.A host of politicians mainly of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, have been kicking against the policy with some claiming that the APC Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is the prime target of the policy.
Apart from checking vote buying, the Federal Government said the policy is meant to fight inflation and insecurity, especially kidnapping for ransom.The deadline for the use of the old notes was initially fixed for January 31 but the CBN later extended it to February 10.President Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday, extended the use of the old N200 note to April 10, declaring that the old N500 and N1000 notes ceased to be legal tender on February 10, as affirmed by the CBN.
The president’s declaration is not in tandem with an interim order of the Supreme Court, which restrained the Federal Government from implementing the February 10 deadline for use of the old notes based on the suit filed by the governments of Kogi, Zamfara and Kaduna states. The apex court fixed hearing of the suit for February 22.The Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Ado Doguwa, on Thursday, lamented that the Naira scarcity was hurting him and other Politicians.
