The Kano State government has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to postpone his scheduled visit to the state, citing the obvious risk of protests over the hardships being faced by the people as a result of the redesigned naira note.
Buhari was scheduled to visit Kano on Monday and Tuesday to commission some projects of the Ganduje administration.
The letter from Governor Abdullahi Ganduje has already been acknowledged by the presidency.
Citing the difficulties and complaints experienced by Kano residents in obtaining the new naira notes, the governor stated that lawmakers, political leaders, and the business community support the decision to request that the President postpone his visit.
The Government of Kano State noted that the introduction of new naira has thrown the people into unimaginable suffering.
“There are no banks in most of our rural communities. How these people get new Naira notes is of great concern. Just look at what is happening in our urban areas, people go and spend hours upon hours in banks. And without any assurances of getting the new notes,” the governor noted.
“Even at Point of Sales (POS), one cannot transact with ease, hinting that, many of them closed shops due to uncertainty,” the governor added while calling on the President to extend the 31 January deadline to phase out the use of the old naira notes.
“Deeply concerned with the hardship caused by the limited time given for halting the use of old Naira notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and for security reasons, Kano State governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje reveals that the state resolved and wrote to Presidency that, the visit of the President to commission some projects to be postponed,” the governor’s aide said in a statement.
“As we are waiting for this important visit, we found ourselves in this situation, which puts citizens into untold hardship. For security purposes, we wrote to Presidency that President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to Kano is postponed.
“We got an acknowledgement copy of the letter. People are suffering because of this policy.”
“During the meeting with sections of citizens in the state, they accepted that the decision was a unanimous one. As they all spoke in support of the letter sent to the Presidency.
“Two serving senators from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya and Barau Jibrin, twenty members of the House of Representatives and thirty legislators from the State House of Assembly were amongst the groups that put their weight behind the governor.