Naira Crunch And The Crumbling Economy -By Damilare Adeleye

It is perhaps not a strange news when our local currency falls against foreign currencies like US Dollar, UK Pound, Euro, etcetera. But, the unusual has fully started displaying like a crazy masquerade as our banknotes have become unexpectedly rare which has now birthed parallel and black markets where prices are inconsiderably pegged for the collection of Naira currency. Succinctly speaking, the scarcity of naira notes being witnessed in our own fatherland in the last few weeks is an unprecedented chaos that has inflicted more pain and hardship than gain on many Nigerians across the country. It is so saddening that middle class Nigerians will struggle at work for money and still queue, shout, wrestle and spend a whole day at withdrawal points before they could obtain their money. This unfortunate development is undoubtedly and totally strange and incomprehensible, just to say the least.

Truly, the redesignation of N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was a welcome development that was hoped to propel prosperity and life to our dying economy. The cash withdrawal limits policy too was expected to bring solutions and sanity to the myriad of problems bewildering our nation’s financial status. We were even at rest when the apex bank management argued that redesigning the three major currencies, as it has been empowered by the constitution to carry out as a global practices, would curb terrorism financing, mop up the rampant counterfeit of the old notes and most importantly lead to recovery of N2.7 trillion which had been kept outside the banking system. However, since the unveiling of the new naira notes by President Muhammadu Buhari with short timeframe for swapping to the new currencies, the Nigerian banknotes have become so scarce as tail of tortoise. This, as a result, has been harshly biting hard on average citizens who heavily rely on cash transactions for daily living. Many of us are denied access to our hard-earned money both at over-counter points and at Automated Teller Machine (ATM) galleries due to the apparent shortage of new naira notes in circulation.

As I write to you, many local businesses have been crippled and winded up. Many micro and small businesses in the country are in their death throes. This is evident in the scantity of many overcrowded markets as many customers and traders do not readily have enough or any cash for ease business transactions. For days now, my own mother who sells cloth materials in a local market in Ogun State, has been making little or no sales as this current lack of cash grips many others. Perhaps, it is who has sufficient fund for food will remember to buy cloth at this point where everyone is struggling for survival. Some of my neighbours who also engage in POS business has recently closed down due to non-availability of naira which they certainly needed for their business. 

To make matters worse, some POS merchants have taken advantage of the dire situation to rip off their countrymen. We unavoidably negotiate the price of money we urgently need. The reality is simply that we purchase the money we need for our basic necessities. I could not hold my resentment when I was told by one of the POS agents in my area that it would cost me N2,000 before I could get just Ten Thousand Naira (N10,000) which I needed for my food stuff as a student. I asked him what would be left out of the whole money I had planned to maintain for the month? The truth is that the economy is not buoyant and favourable as expected. Even, goods and services, transportation, among others are now at very expensive cost, sadly at the detriment of our livelihoods and beyond one’s imagination.

While I believe that CBN policy is deemed good for our country, especially to prevent the menace of vote buying in the upcoming elections which I strongly support, it should, however, not to be out of place to consider the masses who are largely affected and majorly bearing the brunt of the scarcity. We have seen footages of violence in some parts of the country, just as we have seen viral clips of naked Nigerians crying, lamenting and begging publicly for their money. The government should be humane at this time to look into its monetary policies. If cashless financial system is the agenda of the CBN, which most of us have observed, then, strong internet connection, constant electricity and adequate sensitisation of the citizens should first off be the main objectives to achieve for seamless and smooth running of the system. The possible events of bank hackers, slow and failed e-transactions despite debits alerts should also be maximally minimised to boost people’s confidence.  

To end, the federal government and CBN should end this avoidable era of naira crunch. If truly that the CBN did not have sufficient new notes to distribute across the country as alleged, it would be of best interest to allow the old notes to continue as legal tender till enough of the new denominations are printed and judiciously circulated length and breadth of the country. This, I hope, will avert our economy from total crumbling.

Damilare Adeleye, a freelance journalist, writes from Lagos State University.