By Uche Amunike
Nigerian President, General Muhammadu Buhari has had another meeting with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele at his office at the Presidential Villa, yet again.
This would be the third meeting held privately by the president and the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele in the past three weeks.
Recall that the governor of the apex bank visited the president twice in the past week at the State House shortly before his meeting with the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and the National Council of States (NCS), concerning the issue of the Nigerian currency swap on Wednesday and Friday, respectively.
The agenda of the meeting was not known as at press time, as Emefiele did not talk to journalists after the meet. Speculations are however rife that it might be in relation to ways of proffering solutions to the current cash crisis rocking the country since the CBN introduced the Naira swap in October 2022, as the chaos trailing the implementation of the new currency redesign policy is yet to be quelled.
The Council of State, which earlier supported the new currency redesign policy, advised the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele to ensure that the Naira notes are available to Nigerians, in order to alleviate the suffering of the citizens and reduce the tension being experienced by them nationwide.
After the council meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, briefings with journalists by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina and Governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State and Darius Ishaku of Taraba State, were based on key issues raised at the meeting.
According to Governor Ishaku of Taraba state, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele was advised to ensure that he made the new Naira notes available, or alternatively re-circulate the old notes as that would go a long way to lessen the suffering of Nigerians. He also assured that the president would take a final decision as he had been briefed by the members of the Council of States on the way forward.
President Buhari, however did not make any announcement concerning his final decision after the Friday meeting because of the expiration of the deadline set by the CBN to stop using the old note as a legal tender as a result of the pending suits before the Supreme Court by about five state governments over the currency redesign policy that ultimately caused the scarcity of the Nigerian currency.
On his part, Femi Adesina described the deadline set for the new CBN redesign policy as a judicial matter while the Justice Minister, Malami assured Nigerians that the president had the interest of Nigerians at heart and would definitely see that there is an amicable resolution on the matter, even though it was still in court.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele was advised by the Council of State to either recirculate the old notes or make the new ones available.
