The sudden change has caused upheaval among Nigerian citizens, who have begin to express their grievances with the new naira denominations.
The government of Nigeria under the supervising agency for distribution, control, and financial policy advisory body Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), announced that there will be a change and redesign in some of the legal tender in Nigeria which are N200, N500 and N1,000 notes respectively.
In a press briefing where he made the announcement, the Governor of Central bank of Nigeria was noted that the reason was due to hoarding of banknotes by members of the public, the worsening shortage of clean and fit banknotes, increased risk to financial stability and increasing ease and risk of counterfeiting he submitted. Thus, citizens and customers of banks were enjoined to Customers of banks are enjoined to begin paying into their bank accounts the existing currency to enable them withdraw the new banknotes once circulation begins in mid-December 2022.
However, with the advent of new policy it has left citizens wondering why this is coming at a period of where election is around the corner, different questions were asked: was it to disrupt the political activities of politicians who are going out about campaigning, was it to track campaign finance, reduce heavy spending of money during election, was it targeted at any presidential candidate? among other questions to mention.This outcry was joined by citizens who voiced their disapproval of the sudden change, as this was not enough there have shortage and scarcity of the new notes across the country as banks keep hoarding, the hardship persist as Super Agents of bank who operate Point of Service Business now charge customers and citizens very high as 300 naira for a 1000 naira withdrawal , 500 naira to 2000 naira withdrawal to mention but few, claiming that they were charged and find it difficult to get from banks. While also commercial banks are insisting that there is no essense of the new naira notes for them to give out to citizens, while the CBN insisted that new notes of 30 million naira have been disbursed to each commercial bank and they are available for the citizens. Just a few days ago, I had the opportunity to discuss with some of Nigeria’s more drained bystanders about the recent issue of Naira scarcity.
From their words, I could feel their heavy annoyance and no end of anger towards the current situation. Like them, I can’t help but feel the same unbounded pain, agony and frustration of citizens of Nigeria.
The new naira notes policy came at the time of fuel scarcity, a hike in the food commodities, and transportation among other hardships. The Central Bank introduced the new naira denominations without consulting its citizens. This lack of communication and engagement has placed the citizens at distance from the policy-making process and has made them feel like outsiders in their own country. As such, it should be of no surprise that the citizens’ anger over this sudden move is growing by the day and is slowly becoming a national outcry.