Members of the Progressive Governors' Forum, on Friday, pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to convince the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to permit the coexistence of the old and new naira notes. According to them, doing so will lessen the current shortage of naira notes and its related impacts.

This information was made public by Nasir El-Rufai, the governor of Kaduna State, who talked to journalists in Hausa shortly after the governors elected on the APC platform met the President at the State House in Abuja.

El-Rufai said that the action was required since the CBN had collected almost N2 trillion in old notes but had only produced N300 billion in new ones. He claims that the new notes now in use are insufficient for Nigerians.

He said the President has been informed about it, and he has promised to speak with the CBN and other organizations within the next week. Additionally, he stated that the commercial banks are at fault and that he will investigate a solution. He did not, however, say whether or not there would be a delay, but merely stated that he will have to learn the truth. He said those in the states have observed that if this problem is not resolved, tension may spread throughout the country. Elections may be ruined by it or even prevented from taking place entirely and because of this, the President has stated he would think about it

The CBN's cashless policy, according to the former FCT minister, should have been preceded by the printing of at least half of the money collected, or N1tn.

He bemoaned the fact that many Nigerians were suffering despite the fact that retailers of perishable goods were daily losing money due to poor sales.

El-Rufai used the example of tomatoes to illustrate his point, claiming that some Northern vendors who sent their goods to Lagos had to discard them because no one could afford to buy them.

The governor noted that some states and local government jurisdictions don't have banks, and the PoS outlets are problematic for some people. As a result, customers are unable to purchase things from the market. Those who transport tomatoes from the North to Lagos are losing money because their products are spoiling and there is no money to buy them, he said. As a result, the governors pleaded with the President to take their request into account.