The Special Adviser Media and Publicity to President Muhammdu Buhari, Femi Adesina has revealed how he has been surviving admist scarcity of new naira notes in the country.
Adesina who in his article titled: “Living on shoestring budget”, published on Thursday noted that he has been spending the sum of twenty thousand naira, (N20,000) for one week.
He advised Nigerians who attack banks, loot shops, and engage in civil disobedience to desist forthwith.
Adesina told Nigerians not to take laws into their hands, noting that with time naira will be surplus in the country.
Bellow is the article:
LIVING ON SHOESTRING BUDGET
“We left Abuja on January 23, on a journey that would take us to Bauchi, Lagos, Senegal, Katsina, Kano, and Jigawa States. Return date was January 31, in the evening hours.
Since January 31 was then the terminal date for key denominations of the naira to be legal tender, I didn’t want to be like the unwise cripple, who had been told that war was approaching, but who stayed put in the same spot. So I parked everything I had, every dime, and sent it to the bank. I didn’t want my modest funds to become something fit only for the museum.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) later secured a ten days extension of the deadline from President Muhammadu Buhari, which has now been further extended by a Supreme Court ruling. But it has not changed the fact that I’ve been spending the sum of N20,000 for one week, and I’m still spending it. Shoestring budget? Yes, you are right. That’s what it is.
Major part of our Duty Tour Allowance (DTA) had been paid in old currency, so I’d deposited it in my bank right in Katsina. I returned to Abuja, almost in tabula rasa. Empty. I thought it was just a matter of going to my bank, and getting new currency notes. Whosai! Too optimistic.
For three days, I operated with just the N6,000 I had in my pocket. By Friday, it had shrunk to N2, 500.00. What a huge war chest!
You, a Special Adviser to President of the most populous country in Africa! Are you for real? Just N2,500.00? Well, those in government itch as well, and scratch as hard. That is what some people don’t know. The hen sweats, but its feathers make the sweat indiscernible. There was I, on a Friday, worth only N2, 500.00 in new notes, both home and abroad.
