President Muhammadu Buhari met with Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Atiku Bagudu, the Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, and Aminu Tambuwal, the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, at the Council Chamber of the State House in Abuja, over issues connected to the scarcity of the N200, N500, and N1,000 notes.
Abdulrasheed Bawa, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and General Lucky Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff, were also present at the high-level meeting.
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BusinessDay learned that the meeting is a response to the recent Federal High Court order preventing the Federal Government and the CBN from extending the February 10 deadline for swapping and discontinuing the usage of the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes.
Before the Monday court order, members of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum had planned to have a meeting with the president so that he could prevail on the CBN to either abandon the naira swap policy or at least shift the deadline by at least six months.
Prior to the February 10 extension, there had been so much pressure from the political class and the general public on the President and the CBN to extend the deadline for swapping the old notes due to the challenges confronted on a daily basis.
However, this latest meeting may be connected to see how the president may respond to this latest court order, especially as Nigerians continue to groan under the pain of this policy.
