Seven Days Too Long to Resolve Naira Scarcity, Senator Tells Buhari

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

Chairman, Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Smart Adeyemi has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to reconsider his position to address the current naira scarcity within the next seven days.

Adeyemi, who is representing Kogi West in the National Assembly, stated this while addressing journalists in Abuja yesterday.

Buhari had on Friday promised to address the issue of naira scarcity within seven days when he met with the All Progressives Congress governors.

But Adeyemi said the current sufferings by the people were becoming unbearable and pleaded with the President to act immediately to avoid further deaths among the people.

 He exonerated Buhari from the acute naira shortage being experience in the country, insisting that those he described, “hypocrites on the corridor of power,” caused the problems

As part of the solution to the crises, Buhari urged the President to extend the deadline for the naira swap.

Adeyemi said: “Many of the artisans and small scale business people have their money at home. As I speak to you I have a record of people who died because they had no money to buy drugs in the last few days, they died because of complications.

“As good as this policy is, we should not allow the poor masses to carry the pains for the atrocity committed by the elite. I want to tell the President that seven days is too long a time before the change.

“I am taking a look at what is happening across the country and already there are demonstrations, violent reactions. President Buhari is a statesman who fought for the unity of this country and a man who was doggedly committed to rule this country.

“I want to tell the President that 7 days is too long a period. The pain that Nigerians are experiencing is too much.

“Three days is like one year for people to bear. I am saying this because we were elected not appointed, so I have the responsibility to give the feedback of the pains of the people that elected us.

“Those elected are the direct contact to the people. In some instances, people are paying N2,500 to get N10, 000 of the old notes, not even their notes.

“In this country, there are artisans who live by their daily earnings. They can go out and what they get in the day is what they use to manage their homes.

“These people are dying silently and I want to support all the positions taken by Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and the President should listen.

“We that are speaking out are the friends of the president. We are his children who love him so that this government should succeed and hand over on May 29 peacefully.

“We have contributed so much for the enthronement of democracy and some of us will not allow for democracy to be derailed in any way.

“This is a threat to peace and tranquillity of the country and that is what is giving room for interpretation, and insinuations that some people around Buhari are behind but rightly so rightly wrong but there are reasons to believe.”