Buhari opens up on Naira redesign policy
Nigeria’s former President Muhammad Buhari has revealed the reason why he approved the naira redesign policy.
The central bank of Nigeria in October 2022, announced its plans to redesign and circulate a new series of three banknotes.
The redesigned N200, N500, and N1000 notes were due for circulation on December 15, 2022; while the pre-existing notes would remain legal tender until January 31, 2023.
Speaking in his first major interview since leaving power in May this year, Buhari noted that the need for the Naira redesign became imperative in a bid to control the way people spend money, especially lavishly.
Buhari in the interview with NTA said that “the motivation (for the policy) was to try and make Nigerians believe that there is no shortcut to successful leadership.”
“Whether Nigerians believe it or not, we are an underdeveloped country. And in that sort of situation, there’s materialism and sometimes ruthlessly they didn’t care how they made the money,” he said.
“I still feel that the only way I could deprive these people was just to make sure that my integrity became unquestionable… I think as a developing country we still have a long way to go.
It would be recalled that Buhari on November 23,2022 unveiled the redesigned naira notes — earlier than scheduled.
The aftermath of the unveiling later occasioned ‘cash crunch’ in the country, which compound the prevailing economic hardship.
