Scarcely two months after the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria in agreement with the Federal Government to redesign the Naira notes the country has been thrown into a state of economic disarray.
Naira redesign, essentially, was initiated to put Nigeria in the global spotlight and as a medium of tackling economic meltdown. In the view of this, has the federal government successfully balanced the nation's economy or has been faced with an Herculean task of trying to pacify the citizens of Nigeria in a bid to convince them that there is enough currency for circulation?
There is a common rumor among some set of older citizens that in President Buhari's regime in 1984 as the Military Head of State there was a change of currency. The reason for the change was claimed to be a mechanism for fighting corrupt politicians who stock up the legal tender in their homes. So, in their opinion, it is the President's normal action.
The masses are mostly affected by this decision and futile effort as the newly designed currency are yet to be accessed by at least 80% of the population. Most business operators cannot function easily as the means of exchange process is thwarted by the introduction of new naira notes. It has made businesses come to a standstill as the patronage is low due to consumers' inability to access new notes.
The queue at banks these days can be compared to the number of people at the market and those who have access into banks are met with utmost disappointment as the usual statement is that "there is no money in the bank".
How convenient for the bank to say so, after there was a deadline for all old notes to be deposited in various branches on or before the 31st of January 2023. What we don't understand is why the government has refused to take responsibility and either tell us if we are to go cashless or proffer a lasting solution to this situation. Not to talk of most banks who debits large sum of customer's monies in the name of bank maintenance and this has caused individuals to storm into banks and threaten fire and brimstone as they cannot trust banks with their money anymore.
In a bid to withdraw cash from banks one must pay a certain percentage to get a stipulated amount, this has made POS operators go berserk and place exorbitant charges if you must withdraw.
Many are of the opinion that we might likely go back to the era of trade by batter in a nick of time if the cash flow do not cut across the masses in the country.
The naira redesign has failed woefully in the aspect of circulation and it's faced with constant criticism by Nigerians on the quality of materials used in printing the new notes. The nation's economy is dwindling and sinking and a timely intervention is what is needed to stabilize this threat to people's means of livelihood.
Several speculations have been going on, that it's the federal government strategy to hoard money, hence election is fast approaching and the candidate which pays most to buy votes emerges the winner.
Majority are of the opinion that the idea of the new notes should be trashed that it was better when using old naira notes, the economy was going through crises already so why create another problem?
The consequences of the currency redesign surpasses it's usefulness and at this juncture the needful is individual access to their finances and not to be left unattended to in order to create a balance between the nation's economy .