Naira Redesign: Civil Society Group Condemns CBN’s New Notes

A civil society group has condemned CBN’s naira note redesign.

EKO HOT BLOG reports that the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has condemned the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) plans to redesign 200, 500, and 1,000 naira notes.

According to the group, considering the current challenges facing Nigeria’s economy, redesigning the naira notes isn’t an economic priority at this time.

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This online media platform gathered that the Director of CISLAC, Auwal Musa, who shared the society’s view on the development in a statement said there are more things the CBN needs to do to revive the country’s economy than changing the naira notes.

Musa described the move as a misplaced priority based on the reactions of Nigerians.

“The public perception that this decision holds no value proposition for the economy, reiterates the tendency of the CBN to be distracted from fulfilling priority statutory obligations.

“Various comments and responses from concerned Nigerians, show that a large number of Nigerians are worried about the misplacement of priorities of the Apex Bank to make such a decision that comes with possibly huge logistics costs and avoidable dislocations to small businesses, most of whom are in the informal sector,” the CISLAC boss remarked.

He continued saying the CBN’s macro-economic policies had brought nothing but “untold hardship” on the country’s economy, consequently affecting Nigerians negatively.

While noting that the CBN had a lot to do to win back public trust and confidence, he stated that “so far, the macro-economic and monetary policies of the CBN has brought untold hardship to the productive and service sectors of our nation’s economy with consequential negative effects on the lives of our citizens. The Apex Bank has floated multiple exchange rate regimes and has been accused of facilitating arbitrage between the parallel and official foreign exchange markets, providing huge financial patronage, and extending forex-based favours to allies.

“Nigeria is grappling with the external pressures from the incapacity of the Central Bank of Nigeria to protect foreign exchange reserves from external outflows.

“The Apex Bank needs to do a lot to recover the confidence of the public by addressing its inability to ensure; Blockage of illicit financial flows and checkmating the use of financial systems to fund terrorism by strengthening oversight of commercial banks used as conduits for corruption.

“Foreign investors rely on authoritative indexes like the Global Terrorism Index and even economic indexes that include an evaluation of security and stability, to inform their investment decisions.

“Intensifying collaborations with relevant anti-corruption agencies to check dubious charges by some commercial banks, who keep shortchanging poor Nigerians whose reducing disposable income is further worsened by growing inflation costs and unemployment.

“Reduction of competition with other agencies by going beyond its purview to drive interventions in sectors without the consent or cooperation of the relevant coordinating ministries. The CBN’s continued and unsolicited support for MSMEs can be more effective by ensuring synergy between the fiscal and the monetary authorities on intervention funds and adopting transparent mechanisms for beneficiaries to access.

“Availability of forex to those who legitimately need it like students studying out of the country and businesses. The artificially low exchange rate has failed to be as reflective of the market as possible and this has affected access to forex for payment of foreign tuition fees, and the importation of systems and raw materials which contribute greatly to the country’s worsening economic situation. There is a huge blow to our foreign direct investment as foreign investors are leaving due to their inability to access forex.

“Sanitization of the CBN recruitment processes, which are non-transparent as they seem to be reserved exclusively for the children, wards, and affiliates of politically exposed persons.

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“In this desperate period of economic woes for Nigeria, the CBN’s efforts will be better served in pushing robust monetary policies that are in tandem with global best practices, fighting inflation, and building a strong financial system in an increasingly uncertain global economy.”

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