Since the announcement on the redesigning of N200, N500 and N1000 notes was made by the Central Bank of Nigeria, late last month, people have been expressing divergent opinions on the move.
It looks like there is a poor understanding of the plan, obviously, because the apex bank has failed to carry critical stakeholders along before unveiling it to the public.
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Their reactions have undoubtedly shown that the new plan took most of them by surprise.
One can deduce this from the reactions of the finance minister, the National Assembly, faith-based communities and other interest groups in the nation’s economic sector.
I have also observed that, there is a wide gap between the stated objectives and what the Nigerian people, especially those in the lower class, are taking home to be the new CBN plan.
No thanks to the fake news which capitalised on the inability of the apex bank to consult widely as well as step-up sensitisation as a follow-up strategy to the announcement in order to drive home its points.
Accordingly, because nature abhors a vacuum, spin doctors went to work distorting the original intention expressed by the bank and started pushing their own narratives about the plan down the throats of the people.
Some even went as far as making a video, which is currently circulating on different WhatsApp groups; saying that the government wants to print N5000 and N10,000 notes in order to loot and then use some for next year’s general elections.
There are many interpretations coming from different opinion leaders about the plan, but the most dangerous one which should force the CBN to go beyond average in its sensitisation plan, is the religious dimension some clerics and analysts are trying to associate the plan with.
Thus, the CBN should not only intensify its awareness campaign for the plan to enjoy popular support among the people, but it should also collaborate with genuine bureau de change operators as well as commercial banks to make special arrangements for genuine importers and manufacturers to have easy access to foreign currencies in order not to shoot the prices of essential commodities out of the reach of the common man.
Comrade Edwin Uhara can be reached via [email protected]
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