On February 3, 2023, the Supreme Court issued its final ruling in the lawsuit over the old banknotes, extending their validity to December 31, 2023. Since the ruling, both President Muhammadu Buhari and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, have yet to formally issue a directive to deposit money banks (DMBs), causing confusion about the status of the contentious N500 and N1000 notes.
The vast majority of Nigerians now believe that the naira redesign policy was a deliberate ploy to inflict pain and hardship on Nigerians as a result of the President’s and CBN Governor’s silence.
This deafening silence has also triggered discretionary positions by various commercial banks, complicating an already chaotic situation for the country’s cash-dependent population. There have already been reports of some commercial banks issuing a few old notes in their vaults, but few receive the same currencies they dispense from customers willing to deposit. Can they be blamed for this because nature abhors vacuums?
When the naira redesign policy was implemented, the Buhari administration demonstrated a lack of understanding of the policy’s negative impacts on the people, particularly the rural poor. Rather than listen to the voice of reason, the President and the CBN remained steadfast in their determination to inflict unnecessary pain on Nigerians.
Recall that on Feb. 3, during a meeting with the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) at the Presidential Villa, Buhari requested that Nigerians give him seven days to resolve the cash crisis, which has clearly become an embarrassing problem for the people. Many people hoped that his intervention would result in a once-and-for-all solution to the problem. That was not to be. Even the National Council of State (NCS) meeting on February 10 did little to alleviate the suffering of Nigerians who waited patiently for a decisive solution.
Buhari only issued a statement a few days later to say he had approved the extension for the continued use of the old N200 notes alongside the new ones. This surprised many, especially after the Supreme Court ordered the CBN not to phase out the use of old naira notes on February 10, as previously announced.
The reported admission by Emefiele during the Council of State meeting that the severe cash crunch affecting Nigerians was caused by a supply constraint caused by the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Corporation (or MINT)’s capacity to print enough new Naira notes adds to what the public already knew about the CBN’s poorly thought-out policy.
QUEST TIMES published a bold headline “CBN, MINT Co. has no capacity to print enough currency notes needed in Naira redesign” on Jan. 25 to inform Nigerians that MINT could not meet the target despite repeated denials by the apex bank.
There was nothing wrong with the CBN making a mistake or the President admitting he made a miscalculated move. The Supreme Court and other well-meaning Nigerians have also made this point. So, why the continued silence, despite an express injunction from the nation’s highest court? Why the insistence on a policy that has clearly caused untold hardships for millions of Nigerians? If the Supreme Court decision isn’t enough to persuade Buhari and Emefiele to abandon this draconian, torturous, and poorly implemented naira redesign policy, who or what will?