According to Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, who spoke after a meeting between the governors and Buhari, the masses are suffering and traders are losing their goods due to a lack of patronage.
Governors elected under the umbrella of the All Progressive Congress (APC), have appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to allow both the old and new naira notes to co-exist to ease the suffering and bring succour to Nigerians.
According to Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, who spoke after a meeting between the governors and Buhari, the masses are suffering and traders are losing their goods due to a lack of patronage.
He added that while the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) mopped up over N2 trillion of the old notes, it printed only N300 billion, which, according to him, is not enough.
The governor explained that even if the CBN had wanted to implement the cashless policy, it should have printed half of what it mopped up, for a start, which ought to be N1 trillion, Guardian newspaper reports.
El-Rufai said he and his counterparts told the President that traders are losing their goods due to a lack of patronage. He particularly cited the tomato sellers who travelled to Lagos with their goods, but all got wasted because people had no money available to buy.
As a consequence, they appealed to President Buhari to reconsider his position on the new policy.
Curiously, El-Rufai revealed that Buhari did not give them a yes or no answer.
He disclosed that the Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), Atiku Bagudu, had gone back to meet the President privately with the hope to convince him.