By Abdullahi Yusuf
One of the attributes of a good leader is listening to the people as they voice their problems and/or challenges with a view to finding lasting solutions to them.
Over time, multitudes of problems bedeviling the people or the society generally, have been known to be solved by their respective leaders who have listened to them with the commitment to serve.
The decision by His Excellency, the Governor of Kano State, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, to wade into the prevailing shortage of the new Naira Notes in the state with a view to finding a lasting solution to the problem, should be seen in the above light.
Governor Ganduje announced the decisive move at Tsanyawa on Sunday while addressing a mammoth crowd of APC supporters and other residents of Tsanyawa and Kunchi local government areas in continuation of the Gawuna/Garo governorship campaign and consultations.
He told the gathering that the State Government would very soon summon Bank Managers in the state to explain the prevailing shortage of the new New Naira Notes bedeviling the people.
The Governor’s announcement was contained in a statement issued to Newsmen on Sunday by his Chief Press Secretary, Alhaji Abba Anwar.
“We will summon the Bank Managers very soon to interrogate the shortage of the new Naira notes in the banks, ” Ganduje, said, adding that the move was part of the measures being taken by the State Government to cushion the effects of the hardship caused by the CBN’s cash swap policy.
“Currency redesign is done across the globe, but not in the way we are witnessing in our country. The timing is wrong, and the deadline given is very wrong and deliberate.
“They should come over and explain to us, why our people are still suffering over this issue of Naira Swap. And I will go to them individually to supervise what is happening and why,” Ganduje said, amid thunderous ovations from the large crowd.
The statement also said that Governor Ganduje accused the Governor of the Central Bank (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele of deliberately implementing the Cash Swap policy as a fight-back strategy for his failure to secure the presidential ticket of the APC.
It then said that the Governor reminded the people that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the State Government had distributed palliatives to citizens across all 44 local government areas of the state.
He disclosed that this time too, the State Government has the plan to distribute palliatives very soon, across the 44 local government areas of the state to cushion the effects of the Naira swap.
“We have a plan in the pipeline to start distributing palliatives very soon across all the 44 local governments, to cushion the effects of the hardship caused by the CBN Governor, to our people,” he said, adding that Kano State Government and APC in the state are totally against the action of the CBN Governor.
In his address at the palaces of the District Heads of Kunchi and Tsanyawa, Ganduje urged community leaders to enlighten people in their respective domains to know that, “the hardship people are facing is singlehandedly caused by the CBN Governor, to purposely cause confusion in our democratic process.”
“The CBN Governor is only doing this to cause confusion in the forthcoming elections for no just reason.
He has not been in good mood for long, because he failed to secure the Presidential ticket on the platform of our great party, the APC,” the Governor added.
There is no gainsaying that the Governor’s move is timely as it is welcome; because it will cause the Bank Managers to buckle up and resolve the debilitating cash crunch so as to ease the sufferings of the people of the state.
Similarly, the planned palliatives of the State Government will go a long way in cushioning the effects of the Emefiele unpopular Cash Swap policy. Governor Ganduje is working!
