NIGERIA is in a fix. Over 200 million people are held captive by the apex bank headed by a self-acclaimed superman, ‘most intelligent banker in the world’ and politician in disguise, whose policy on currency redesign has unleashed a monumental disaster on innocent bank customers and other Nigerians.
Two objectives were disclosed by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele. The first was to compel Nigerians to embrace a cashless policy. The second was to mop up illicit naira notes allegedly hidden in the homes and vaults of politicians who are likely to monetise the February 25 and March 11 elections.
As if Nigeria was still under a military regime, public complaints seem not to matter. It appears there is no going back on the journey to national doom, even if all commercial activities remained paralysed, and Nigerians felt nostalgic about the use of cowries in the commercial transactions of old.
On Thursday, the Finance Minister, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, who had earlier claimed that she was not carried along by the CBN governor, appealed to Nigerians to endure the hardship.
Thousands of Nigerians queue daily at Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) to get the few amounts they had deposited with the banks. They use the small cash they could lay hands on to queue at filling stations for fuel to get their vehicles moving and their generators running to provide power supply. In the national melee, the highly inefficient power distribution companies (DisCos) have remained largely epileptic. Ahead of the polls, distraught Nigerians are reminded to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) – for those who have not done so – from the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) within the few days to the deadline the electoral empire has specified. Nigerians also have to queue for these PVCs ahead of voting for their preferred candidates.
Today’s Nigerians have been put under undue pressure from all areas they ought to enjoy peace and quiet.
It thus appears that there is a hidden agenda in the new currency design, among other issues, judging by the timing of the policy. The change of the three highest denominations of the notes coincides with the electioneering.
There are speculations that a dangerous plot was being hatched to incite Nigerians against the best presidential candidate in the race to Aso Villa. Social media miscreants have allegedly been mobilised to heap the blame for the calculated misery on the target. The conspiracy against the Jagaban is the last hurdle to cross before the February 25 poll that will lead to victory.
But the plot has collapsed. Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has told Nigerians that the APC as a political family had no hand in the policy.
The risk of social unrest is high. Protesters in Lagos and other cities have turned the heat on the CBN governor. The suffering should not be allowed to escalate. The memory of the October 20, 2020 #EndSARS protest that was hijacked by hoodlums is still fresh.
Public pressure has now forced Emefiele to issue a directive that N20,000 could be obtained across the counter in the banks. The measure is still not satisfactory to most Nigerians who agonise daily.
But, there may also be other plans to achieve the subsisting hidden agenda. Hopefully, it will also collapse.
President Muhammadu Buhari, in his second coming, inherited a country that was thirsty for change. He has tried his best in some sectors. He has achieved some improvements in the areas of security, transportation and anti-graft war.
Yet, there is still much more to be accomplished.
As the President is approaching the end of his eight-year two-term tenure, Nigerians are upset by the inexplicable fuel and cash scarcity, which are casting a dent on his score card. More worrisome is the probability of mismanaging the pressing challenges, thereby affecting the general election.
If well perused, the protracted fuel shortage is quite strange. Nigeria is the sixth largest producer of oil in the world. But the country is also an importer of petroleum products. In the last 24 years, successive administrations have failed to maintain the four refineries scattered across the country for optimal performance. Building a new one is also a tall order.
The current fuel scarcity is thus a classic kind of sabotage which has persisted despite the threats by the Department of State Services (DSS) last December to halt the trend. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) simply ignored its 48-hour ultimatum to stop the crisis in the industry and restore normalcy.
How much oil is lifted daily by the NNPC? The figures are in the realm of conjecture. There is no reliable data on the amount supplied daily. NNPCL tendered a figure of 66 million litres, but the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) disagreed, saying it is 40 million litres.
Both institutions of government have also not provided effective solution to oil theft. According to reports, $4 billion was lost to the theft of Nigeria’s petroleum products in 2021 and $1.5 billion in 2022. The figures for this year may come in due course. Those behind bunkering are not ordinary people.
In the past, there were reports of tankers crossing the borders to other countries. Security agencies could not rise to the occasion.
At a time many oil-producing countries are maximising the benefits of gas, 75 per cent of assorted gas in Nigeria is flared; only 12 per cent is re-injected for commercial advantage.
Fuel pricing is motivated by external pull. Since Nigeria imports fuel for domestic consumption, whenever oil price goes up in the international market, it affects the price regime at home.
The loss in terms of man-hour due to scarcity is enormous. Motorists spend several hours on the queue in search of the elusive product. Transporters shift the cost to commuters. In turn, traders shift the burden to ordinary Nigerians.
The woe of the sector is exacerbated by the embarrassing fuel subsidy, which is to the advantage of few barons who desperately milk the country dry. Nearly all the top presidential candidates have indicated plans to remove it, thereby incurring the wrath of the manipulators.
As fuel becomes scarce and the cash to buy it also becomes scarcer, Nigerians are groaning in the economic cul-de-sac the insensate cabal has thrown them into.
Many experts believe that the chaos was avoidable, if the CBN had done extensive research, collated data, adopted a gradual process and considered the collateral damage to the common man.
Many rural people have now developed acute fear for modern banking. The fear is premised on what they perceive as the deliberate seizure of their hard-earned cash. After depositing their working capital in the bank and they cannot easily withdraw it for their little businesses, nasty thoughts flash across their minds.
Is it a crime to be a Nigerian? How could a set of soulless beings hold the nation by the jugular without those in authority making them to pay dearly for their criminality? Why should a national monetary policy transmogrify the nation into denizens of perdition?
Those who are yet to deposit the old notes are confused. Many of them, according to some governors, live in remote rural communities where banking is alien.
Having been encouraged and assured before depositing their cash, they now feel that they were deceived. If someone travels from the remotest part of a state to the city to deposit his cash and he is directed to the ATM to withdraw N10,000 only, he loses confidence in the banking system.
Rural economy, indeed the informal sector, is cash-driven. The cashless policy, to many rural dwellers, is like fiction. This is associated with low level of literacy. In the interior, cashless policy is also hampered by lack of telecommunications network.
Besides, how would a trader who does not operate a bank account carry out transactions in his or her area of residency?
According to the CBN, over N1.1 trillion has been mopped up. The cash, to the rural poor, has been trapped. Some of the rural dwellers have no money to even eat.
Although CBN has alluded to the presence of Point of Sales (POS) agents, they are few, relative to the population. Many still find it strange that the agents are entitled to certain charges to give out cash.
In the banking halls, customers express frustration and vent their anger. They demand explanations for what happens to their money. Their anger is not misplaced; it is their right to know what happens to the cash they deposited or they are about to deposit and when they can call for it and get it at their convenience. But the bankers appear forlorn themselves. They lack the psychological answers to assuage the hurt in the people’s agitated minds. Bank workers try to explain the new policy. They do not understand the depth of the situation. They often sound illogical and incoherent.
The confusion pervading the horizon may have arisen from the fact that while ATMs are not dispensing cash, the new naira notes are in high supply at social functions. Bank officials get the currency across to those who sell them to people to spray at parties. These buyers and sellers get the new notes after paying the officials.
Although CBN claims to be targeting politicians, those who bear the brunt are ordinary folks. The big men seldom carry cash about. They have their money in banks. They account for the huge volume of cashless transactions.
Vote buying and selling will be more attractive on poll day, if the agony persists. Bank workers who sell cash to people for social functions will see a more lucrative business in selling to desperate politicians.
Unlike before, more Nigerians are gradually embracing the cashless option. As time goes on, it is hoped that the policy will become the vogue.
Emefiele and President Buhari should listen to financial and monetary experts. They should allow the old and new notes to circulate together for another six months. Gradually, the CBN can collect the old notes without damage to commercial transactions and our daily existence.
Many rural people have now developed acute fear for modern banking. The fear is premised on what they perceive as the deliberate seizure of their hard-earned cash. After depositing their working capital in the bank and they cannot easily withdraw it for their little businesses, nasty thoughts flash across their minds.
Is it a crime to be a Nigerian? How could a set of soulless beings hold the nation by the jugular without those in authority making them to pay dearly for their criminality? Why should a national monetary policy transmogrify the nation into denizens of perdition?
Those who are yet to deposit the old notes are confused. Many of them, according to some governors, live in remote rural communities where banking is alien.
Having been encouraged and assured before depositing their cash, they now feel that they were deceived. If someone travels from the remotest part of a state to the city to deposit his cash and he is directed to the ATM to withdraw N10,000 only, he loses confidence in the banking system.
Rural economy, indeed the informal sector, is cash-driven. The cashless policy, to many rural dwellers, is like fiction. This is associated with low level of literacy. In the interior, cashless policy is also hampered by lack of telecommunications network.
Besides, how would a trader who does not operate a bank account carry out transactions in his or her area of residency?
According to the CBN, over N1.1 trillion has been mopped up. The cash, to the rural poor, has been trapped. Some of the rural dwellers have no money to even eat.
Although CBN has alluded to the presence of Point of Sales (POS) agents, they are few, relative to the population. Many still find it strange that the agents are entitled to certain charges to give out cash.
In the banking halls, customers express frustration and vent their anger. They demand explanations for what happens to their money. Their anger is not misplaced; it is their right to know what happens to the cash they deposited or they are about to deposit and when they can call for it and get it at their convenience. But the bankers appear forlorn themselves. They lack the psychological answers to assuage the hurt in the people’s agitated minds. Bank workers try to explain the new policy. They do not understand the depth of the situation. They often sound illogical and incoherent.
The confusion pervading the horizon may have arisen from the fact that while ATMs are not dispensing cash, the new naira notes are in high supply at social functions. Bank officials get the currency across to those who sell them to people to spray at parties. These buyers and sellers get the new notes after paying the officials.
Although CBN claims to be targeting politicians, those who bear the brunt are ordinary folks. The big men seldom carry cash about. They have their money in banks. They account for the huge volume of cashless transactions.
Vote buying and selling will be more attractive on poll day, if the agony persists. Bank workers who sell cash to people for social functions will see a more lucrative business in selling to desperate politicians.
Unlike before, more Nigerians are gradually embracing the cashless option. As time goes on, it is hoped that the policy will become the vogue.
Emefiele and President Buhari should listen to financial and monetary experts. They should allow the old and new notes to circulate together for another six months. Gradually, the CBN can collect the old notes without damage to commercial transactions and our daily existence.
END
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