The governor of the Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele, shortly after the Monetary Policy Committee meeting on Tuesday stated that the January 31 deadline for the collection of old naira notes remain sacrosanct.
Emefiele’s statement came even after the National Assembly deliberated on the need for the apex bank to extend the collection of the old naira to June in view of the rush with which the policy is being implemented and how the rural and unbanked communities would suffer the consequences.
Though the policy has continued to generate mixed reactions from Nigerians, it has the blessing of the president. There is no gainsaying the fact that the policy is a big blow to money launderers, kidnappers and vote buyers. However, it came at the wrong time. Majority of Nigerians do not have bank accounts and 80 per cent of transactions in the country are done in cash. Besides, the lack of good telephone network, coupled with erratic power supply has made electronic banking more difficult and unreliable.
The CBN January deadline is like putting the cart before the horse. While the grace period granted to Nigerians to deposit their old money was 90 days, there was inadequate enlightenment and sensitisation by the CBN and other government agencies. The blame game between the CBN and commercial banks has compounded the scarcity of the new notes. While the CBN insists that it has released adequate new notes to the banks they, on the other hand, continue to dispense old naira notes.
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The CBN’s swap policy in which mobile money agents are allowed to swap new money to the tune of N10,000 directly to individuals in the rural areas is good and may hasten quick circulation of new notes, the few days remaining are not enough to penetrate remote communities.
The decisions by the merchants or marketers to stop collecting old notes before the deadline amidst scarcity of the new ones will fuel the crisis.
With the deadline fast approaching and many Nigerians yet to deposit or access new redesigned naira, CBN should as a matter of urgency extend the period as being demanded by Nigerians.
Ibrahim Mustapha Pambegua, Kaduna State.
