Naira Redesign: The Many Sides of a Fiscal Policy

By Kabir Akintayo

Opinions of many political parties towards the redesigning of Nigeria’s currency denominations of 200, 500, and 1000 naira varies. Ironically, opposition parties have thrown their weight behind the policy conceptualized by the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC). Even though, people are going through difficulties to get cash for their daily endeavors, leaders and Presidential Candidates of Labour Party (LP) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have urged people to endure the pain and bear with the CBN newest policy.

Peter Obi of LP, on Sunday, spoke on Arise News T.V. He admitted that the currency redesign was not peculiar to Nigeria and that it has a long time economic and societal benefit, but with a short time inconveniences and pain.

He said “I believe the CBN can make it available as quickly as possible. Everywhere there have been redesign of currency in a third world country, it comes with challenges and in some instance riots.

“Look at what happened in India, there were riots. But today, India is better off and their economy benefitted better. This policy was announced on 26th of October, 2022 and they gave extra 10 days and all of a sudden people are rioting and behaving as if it came overnight.

“Government has taken a decision and we can’t be using two currencies at same time. So, the decision has been taken, let’s run with it.”

Also, Atiku Abubakar of PDP, through his spokesperson, said, he’s in support of the cashless policy introduced by President Buhari. He even encouraged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) not to extend the additional 10 days added for the deposit of old Naira notes.

Atiku said “the CBN should be wary of the elite whose motive for crying out about more postponement of the deadline for the tenure of the old Naira notes is sinister and far from being altruistic. I am totally in support of building a cashless economy and reducing the amount of cash in our economy.

“There should be no further postponement of the new naira regime after the expiration of the February 10 deadline. The vote riggers are seeking to push the CBN to extend till after the election when they would have achieved their evil plots.

“The CBN and the Presidency should be steadfast. The merits of the new naira policy far outweigh the little inconvenience we are experiencing. This is one policy that will benefit the country in the long term. We should not allow those selfish, parochial people with the narrow vision to derail it,” he said.

Atiku also accused Tinubu of stashing the new notes for vote buying, alleging that, the former Lagos state governor is using the advantage of Lagos, which harbors headquarters of banks in the country, to divert new note.
He said that, the APC, and their allies are agitating for extension of recognition of old notes till after election, to enable them utilize the ones they stashed for the upcoming election.

Speaking through his special assistant on public communication, Mr. Phrank Shaibu, Atiku commended Buhari for the introduction of cashless policy which he said will help fight vote buying during the election.

“The PDP called on president Muhammadu Buhari to protect Nigerians by going after these felonious APC leaders as well as the saboteurs in the system who are reportedly working with the APC Presidential Campaign to mop up cash meant for distribution to our citizens’, Atiku said.

However, the Presidential Candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu, openly criticized the policy of the naira redesign, accusing fifth columnists in the Presidency of working with oppositions to scuttle the election. Tinubu claimed that, some saboteurs within his party want him to fail in his election, thus, making APC unpopular for the upcoming election.

Asiwaju said at his Ekiti rally that “They are hoarding Naira so that you can be angry and fight. They want confusion so that the election can be postponed.
“What they want is an interim government. But we are wiser than them. We will not fight. Any rat that eats the rat poison will end up killing itself.
“I am in the race for the betterment of the people. If it is what I will eat and what I need personally, God has provided for me. I am in this race to make life good and better for you too”.

Meanwhile, three APC governors on Monday, sued President Buhari, on a grand to extend the deadline for collection of old notes. The governors cited non-availability of cash and the stress their people are going through which perhaps, can lead to civil unrest.

The states are seeking a declaration that the Demonetization Policy of the Federation being currently carried out by the Central Bank of Nigeria under the directive of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not in compliance with the extant provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007 and actual laws on the subject.

They are also asking the court to make a declaration that the three-month notice given by the Federal Government, through the CBN, under the directive of the President, the expiration of which will render the old Banknotes inadmissible as legal tender, is in gross violation of the provisions of Section 20(3) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act 2007 which specifies that Reasonable Notice must be given before such a policy.

Another political party that has similar view to that of Tinubu on the Naira redesign is the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). The National Chairman of the party, Chief Victor Oye, who spoke to ‘THISDAY’ at the weekend, maintained that, the policy will only affect the poor.

He said that, the policy will not achieve it purpose to checkmate vote buying, adding that, politician will always find their way to get cash.

“For me, government didn’t have enough time to articulate the situation well. They did not carry people along and if they had carried out a referendum, they would have found out that Nigerians would have requested for a longer period for the implementation of the naira design.

“But federal government applied the surprise mechanism which has put the nation in a state of confusion as people could not have access to their money and cannot meet their basic needs.

“While the long term effect is still uncertain, it’s immediate impact that it is going to have disruptive effect on the forthcoming national elections”. Oye maintained.

While speaking to POLITICS DIGEST, a cross section of Nigerians complained bitterly, about the rigorous process they undergo to cash their money.

Mrs. Deborah Peter, lamented the difficulty she experienced to withdraw just 10,000 Naira from an Automated Teller Machine (ATM)

She said “I stayed on the queue for closing 2hours, at the end, I was only able to withdraw N10,000 and it won’t even solve my problem”.

She appealed to the government to consider the masses as the suffering is unbearable for most of the people.

Across many parts of Abuja, POLITICS DIGEST observed that many businesses have been grounded due to the unvailability of cash. It was also observed that many bank customers stayed up to 5hours on the queue to withdraw their money from banks’ ATMs, with most of the machines not even having cash to dispense.

Mr. Haruna Kadir, a human right activist, alleged that, “the policy is to frustrate some particular politicians, forgotten that they can always have their way.

“For example, Tinubu can get as many new notes as possible, he already has access to it, so as others. If you checked the news, recently, Atiku was accused of collecting N500 million Naira new notes, the policy can only frustrate the poor and hardworking business owners, anything else is formalities”.