Call it a state of anarchy or season of anomie and you are damn right. Bedlam, confusion and pockets of violence enveloping Nigeria at a critical time when the 2023 general elections are just by the door step. Malady in the bank halls, anarchy at the ATM centres and violence at the filling stations as if all hells have been let loose on our country, Nigeria, as if we are in a rudderless jungle where fair is foul and foul is fair.
We can understand what the Federal Government is driving at by the Naira redesigning aimed at curbing vote buying during the elections, but the lingering fuel crisis defies logic and it appears the government is trying to put so many irons in the fire at a very wrong time.
My main grouse here is against the Godwin Emefiele new naira notes policy which came like a bolt from the blues and without proper home work. That quickly reminds me that when a seating governor of a Central Bank woke up one day and dreams of becoming the president of Nigeria without resigning his position, then I sensed that Nigeria was about to be scammed. And how true was I? More than 250 million Nigerians are now bearing the brunt of that inordinate ambition and at the mercy of Emefiele, who to me is Nigeria’s Number one economic saboteur.
About three weeks ago, we woke up to how DSS was chasing Godwin Emefiele everywhere on account that he was fueling terrorism by allocating funds to them and as well allocating forex to phoning companies. While DSS were hell bent to arrest him, he quickly went and procured order through the court that barred the DSS from investigating him.
Today, the hunted Emefiele is the one hunting Nigerians with his draconian monetary policy that has crippled the economy and laid the nation prostrate on its belly.
If you ask me, there is nothing wrong with currency redesigning policy. Big economies around the world such as the USA, UK and even our brother African country, South Africa have variously embarked on currency redesigning without hassles.
While these great countries did their currency redesigning and implemented the policy effortlessly, without harming the welfare of the citizens and the national economies, Nigeria’s case is being done as if there are no monetary experts and advisers that can implement a seamless project like this.
Yes, there are efforts by the CBN Bankers Committee and Emefiele to ameliorate the problems. I’m aware that no Bank is authorised to pay out old notes again via ATMs or in bank branches over the counter; no payment of new notes over the counter. Banks are only allowed to release new notes via ATMs.
Yes, officials of branches that fail to comply or that release cash to Corporates and Politicians will face termination of their contracts and the respective banks will be sanctioned.
Fine and laudable measures, but are they working? No way. They say it can’t work because of Nigerian factors.
Operators of Point of Sale (POS) have taken the advantage of banks’ deliberate design not to load the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) to dispense new Naira notes to hike their service charges. The POS operators now charge N500 for the withdrawal of N5,000 as against N100 hitherto charged for the withdrawal of same amount
Worst still, Emefiele never reckoned that the population of the unbanked people who are mostly domiciled at the remotest parts of the country should be considered in this policy implementation.
Wait a minute, where are the new currency even at the city centers? In whose interests are we implementing this policy, citizens or economy? Can we enforce any policy the people are not in agreement with its implementation process in a democratic society? It’s absolutely impossible to force a policy against the wish of the people because the president and others are in their offices for the sake of the citizens.
In other clime, Godwin Emefiele should have resigned his appointment as the Central Bank Governor for misleading the president and trying to pit the people against Buhari and the ruling party.
The CBN also failed woefully to carry out enough advocacy across the nooks and crannies of the country, reaching the banked and unbanked populace. They should have communicated this policy in different languages and reached the communities through town halls meetings, town criers, cultural associations, markets associations, drivers unions, town unions and others. No doubt you need quality time to accomplish this.
In other parts of the world where currency redesigning took place, there were no timeline for citizens. What they did was to embark on the implementation gradually. Over two hundred million population and the largest economy in Africa can’t be forced to swallow a military fashioned policy hook, line and sinker, leading to crumbling their economy. They will resist it and this is a bad period to do so because it’s election year .
Elections, all over the world is expensive and logistics must drive it and logistics is about money. So, CBN must reconsider its stance.
Before I conclude my story, Godwin Emefiele must tell Nigerians why the new currency notes are found at Ojota Motor Park and all Owanbe parties across the nation. This is a serious matter, CBN and banks must stop these nefarious activities against Nigerians who are already gnashing their teeth over the unavailability and scarcity of the new designed naira notes.
In a nutshell, the 10-day extension is a ruse. It is inadequate.
.Otunba Sola Olatunji, Chairman of the Ikale Heritage Development Association, writes from Lagos
