Buhari end New Naira notes scarcity now
The crisis rocking the Nation over Naira scarcity has become a daily nightmare for Nigerians. This requires urgent and critical intervention by President Muhammadu.
No cash at Commercial Banks’ ATMs, 95 per cent Point of Sale agents have shut down.
Despite the President Muhammadu Buhari directive last week that the old N200 notes should be allowed as legal tender till April 10, Nigerians are yet to see any improvement on the currency crisis.
Workers, business owners, traders, commuters lament daily over the naira crisis.
The CBN has remained rigid; no exact information on the amount of cash disbursed into the banking sector to end the pain while demand for cash has commercial banks in a chokehold.
To worsen the crisis online banking transactions including USSD continue to witness embarrassing network failure.
As some experts advised, the Nigerian banking sector has evidently showed unpreparedness for cashless policy; a situation which makes, its proponent, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) a laughing stock.
Again, it is hard to understand the logic behind a system that mopped close to N2.7 trillion old notes but printed only N400 billion new naira notes.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday fixed March 3 to give judgement on the matter brought to it by the All Progressives Party Governors challenging the implementation of Naira Redesign Policy.
Obviously, the Supreme Court’s decision could not perform the magic to quench the crisis.
Some Nigerians have decided to take the matter into their hands by perpetuating violence.
Recently, it got to ferocious dimension as protesters set ablaze Commercial banks in Delta, Edo, Ondo and Ogun State while several persons were reportedly killed.
The tension has cut across Oyo, Kwara, Lagos, Ekiti and other parts of the country with recorded colossal losses. For many Nigerians suffering from the attendant effect of a cash crunch, anything to absorb the frustration won’t be far-fetched.
Four persons, including a nursing mother, were on Wednesday killed in Benin, the Edo State capital, as angry residents barricaded the gate of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in protest over the scarcity of naira cash.
It was gathered that two persons were killed on the Akpakpava road where the CBN office is located, one at Sakpoba road, while the nursing mother was killed by a stray bullet while waiting at the ATM spot to withdraw cash.
Angry residents had besieged the CBN to swap old notes following its rejection by banks, fuel stations and market women.
Trouble started when an unmarked Toyota Hilux, which the protesters believed was from the government officials coming to the CBN to collect new cash, wanted to enter the bank.
Similarly, protests on Tuesday rocked the Udu road area of Delta State, resulting in the death of two persons and the burning of two commercial banks over naira scarcity.
Protesters went on a rampage destroying and vandalising First, Access and Union commercial banks’ assets at the Express Junction, Udu road, Delta State.
The Delta State Police Command Public Relations Officer Bright Edafe confirmed the incident saying it had apprehended Nine suspected and calm have returned to the area.
Oyo, Ondo, and Lagos also witnessed massive protests, resulting in the disruption of activities nationwide.
Amid this happening, President Muhammadu Buhari must act fast to forestall peace across the country.
It has gone beyond verbal assurance; the President and his men should address the situation to quench the rising nerves among angry Nigerians.
While President Muhammadu Buhari, Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, continue to run from pillar to post in search of a solution, in this editorial, Nigerian NewsDirect writes that all parties must accept their shortcomings while seeking a holistic solution to the currency mess.
With the validity of the judgement by the Supreme Court stopping the apex bank from enforcing the February 10 deadline to render the old, the need for both notes to exit side-by-side becomes paramount.
Therefore, Emefiele should adopt a more pragmatic implementation of the new naira policy by allowing both notes to co-exist pending the Supreme Court judgement. The old and new notes should be legal tender concurrently for longer. In conjunction with the security agencies, the CBN should clamp down on naira abusers. Nigeria security agencies should intensify clampdown on banks and their management hoarding the new notes. CBN should make the banknotes available to the banks, give severe sanctions on banks that hoard the banknotes and use technology to track the distribution of the currency.
Buhari must charge all security agencies to be on red alert nationwide to forestall peace when the need arises.
