Buhari addresses Nigerians 7am today

President Muhammadu Buhari will address Nigerians in a national broadcast slated for 7am today, Thursday, February 16, 2023.

This was disclosed by the President's Special Adviser on Media & Publicity, Femi Adesina.

In a press release issued late night Wednesday, February 15, 2023, Adesina said Buhari will speak to Nigerians and enjoined all media outlets including television and radio stations to hook up to the network services of Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and Radio Nigeria for the broadcast.

The terse statement partly read: “Television, radio stations and other electronic media outlets are enjoined to hook up to the network services of the Nigerian Television Authority and Radio Nigeria for the broadcast.”

While the reason for the broadcast, or the issue the president wants to address wasn't disclosed, it may not be unconnected to the ongoing crisis about naira redesign and implementation of cashless policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Recall that there were pockets of unrest in some parts of the country on Wednesday as Nigerians demonstrated their anger on the streets over the continued inability to access cash from banks.

This followed the directive by the apex bank that commercial banks across the country should cease from accepting the old N1,000, N500, and N200 notes from depositors as their legal tender status had expired since February 10, 2023.

This is despite a subsisting order of Supreme Court prohibiting the Federal Government from ending the validity of the old naira notes on the deadline set by the apex bank.