NEW CURRENCY NOTES DELIVERED

Boniface Chizea commends the central bank for the initiative

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday November 23, 2022 unveiled the new Naira notes. This signals the fact that as a country we have now crossed the Rubicon with regard to the proposed new notes. This is a major milestone for as the Governor of the Central Bank himself observed during the unveiling ceremony, several attempts to effect such a change were effectively blocked by powerful interests in the past. I recall one post I saw in social media, can’t vouch for its authenticity where tumultuous prayer sessions were held, at of all places, Mecca in Saudi Arabia for this exercise! This is so comical you want to laugh your head off if not that the matter under discussion is so serious for the effective management of the national economy.

Now that the new notes have been unveiled, nothing therefore will stop its introduction on December 15, 2022 as proposed. We would now expect the machines to be rolling furiously at MINT churning out the new notes. As Governor Emefiele has observed, the quantity of the higher denominations notes: 500 and 1,000 notes that will be printed will be drastically reduced. Some have asked if this measure is calculated to fight inflation! It is in my view, simply meant to promote the CBN cashless policy. If at all it will impact inflation it will be to the extent that such a move might discourage reckless impulsive spending.

As should be expected there have been reactions. Some have complained that the change only has to do with the colours of the notes which could pose some difficulties for those colour blind! But from where I stand what is important is that the objectives of the exercise will be achieved; namely to demonetize humongous illegal cash holdings outside the banking system which had made monetary policy initiatives ineffective, and deal a killer blow to ransom payments. One hears that the terrorists are now asking for payments to be made in CFA currency or dollars. Such unscrupulous elements must be counting their days by now in this country.

There was also a post which I saw which showed what happened when the US carried out a similar exercise. It also more or less amounted to a change in the colour of the notes. What for me is also important is the fact that none of the conspiracy theories peddled around about the change has been borne out; that the Islamic characters on the notes will be removed or that it is cleverly contrived opportunity to put the portrait of President Buhari on one of the notes. What really is most important is that Governor Emefiele has assured us all that the security features on the new notes have been tightened to make counterfeiting a tall order.

The Central Bank has removed for the sake of this exercise all charges on deposits. There is an assurance that henceforth all huge cash withdrawals from the banks will be monitored by the Central Bank as well as EFCC. In fact for me it is time to ban large cash withdrawals as is the case elsewhere. Compatriots must embrace electronic channels for making payments and transfers. The EFCC has also advised companies to desist from accepting cash payments in excess of N5 million from individuals and N10 million from companies. Some actually observed that EFCC might be crossing the boundary in terms of areas of responsibility by all these directives coming from its end. We must discourage turf wars, they are unnecessary and consume valuable energy. What is important is that there is a task before us and all hands must be on deck until such tasks are accomplished. The respective Acts establishing each organization are explicit about who should be doing what and therefore there should be no need for hair splitting.

The banks must cooperate with the Central Bank to make this exercise seamless and successful. The CBN on the other hand must elevate its monitoring eyes to ensure that no institution or anybody for that matter constitutes a cog in the wheel of progress in this respect. The banks have served notice that they will open daily until 6 pm and also be open on Saturdays to facilitate this exercise. It is also important that a keen eye is focused to track the return of illegally stockpiled huge amounts into the system. From where I stand any huge illegal piles of money out the banking system should simply be demonetized. It is about time some hard lessons are taught and learnt.

The last time currency notes were changed in the country we have been informed is about 20 years ago. We have also been informed that the received wisdom is for advised periodic change in currency to be undertaken between five and seven years and the intention is to keep within this period for the next currency change. We hope that some politicians that have stockpiled money outside for the purchase of votes will be drastically affected. This is opportune moment to sanitize the electoral process in the country as we eliminate the buying of votes. We have heard some of the politicians complain loudly probably out of frustration that the CBN Act should be amended to take away such powers from it. So, if we did so, where will such powers be domiciled? Probably with the parliament! We commend the Central Bank for this laudable initiative and pray for great success in the overall interest of the Nigerian economy currently on intensive care.

Dr. Chizea writes from Lagos