Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says as a market woman’s son, he understands the hardship caused by the naira swap policy.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had fixed February 10 as the deadline for the use of old bank notes — and insisted on it despite a court order restraining the bank from enforcing the deadline.
On Thursday, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the apex bank to recirculate old N200 notes which would be valid till April 20.
In a statement on Friday, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, a media aide in the APC campaign council, quoted Tinubu as saying that he knew the policy would have a “devastating impact on the informal economy because of his knowledge of trading in Nigerian markets”.
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Speaking at a meeting with market leaders from around the country in Abuja, Tinubu said he was fed and trained by his mother with money from trading, adding that he could identify with the pains and gains of traders.
The APC presidential candidate said the traders should remain resolute and not allow difficulties arising from the naira swap exercise to overwhelm them.
He said if elected into office, his government would provide low interest loans for traders and address their concerns in other areas of their businesses.
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“This man is from the market and is from the city,” the former governor of Lagos added.
Muhammad Badaru, governor of Jigawa; Abubakar Bello, Niger governor, and James Faleke, secretary of the party’s campaign council, were present at the meeting.
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