Even till this moment that you are holding this piece, the devastating effect of the weird misadventure in the name of naira redesign unleashed on Nigeria’s economy in late 2022 by the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has yet to abate. Just on Monday this week, because of scarcity of Naira notes in banks, the CBN, now headed by Olayemi Cardoso, issued a directive cancelling charges on large cash deposits at the counter as against a 2019 circular that stipulated processing fees of two percent and three percent on cash deposits above specified thresholds by individuals or corporates.
It is that bad. Nobody goes to the banking hall to deposit cash anymore.
The cash is not just there and customers have become wiser. They now recirculate the few they have among themselves rather than depositing with banks that had been so incapacitated by now infamous cashless absurdity foisted on Nigerians by Emefiele.
There has been a short supply of cash to the banks from the apex bank, prompting the banks to reduce the amount disbursed both via the Automated Teller machines and Over-The-Counter.
Like the beginning of the year, when Nigerians faced biting cash scarcity, banks now prioritise customers holding accounts with them, while rationing available cash to make it get to as many customers as possible. While some still maintain the N100,000 daily withdrawal limit in tranches of N20,000 through ATMs, others have since reduced the amount dispensed through the same channel.
But whatever the case, Nigerians have the Supreme Court to thank for coming to the rescue at the point when Emefiele, then the CBN boss, obstinately stuck to his gun even when the entire country was heading to the rocks. In fact, the now embattled Emefiele literally then doused the entire nation with petrol and was menacingly holding the lighter, ticking when to strike for the whole nation to go up in flames for all he cared!
Emefiele had suddenly made the announcement in October 2022 that the Naira would undergo a change. It was launched by former President Muhammadu Buhari in November and Nigerians were then told that by January 31, 2023, the old notes would cease to be legal tender. Not a few raised eyebrows about the suspicious frenetic speed and deadline of less than 90 days window in a large economy like Nigeria. Despite the fiasco that followed the failed Naira redesign, which was merely recolouring, the man with a wicked humour maintained his stance that he had a very bad news for those who expected that the deadline to phase out the old N1000, N500 and N200 notes would be extended beyond January 31, 2023.
That was when the new notes that he claimed he printed in abundance were like fabled gold. They were as scarce as the essential commodities of the old Structural Adjustment Programme years. Again, not a few Nigerians would forget what they went through during those senseless cashless months that Emefiele turned everybody into guinea pigs for his dangerous game. Then, banking halls turned into battle grounds and anyone holding just N2,000 in cash was a king of money of a sort.
Nigerians then looked up to their President to save the situation, but he provided nil comfort. During the sad moment, Buhari just asked Nigerians to manage with old N200 notes and forget the comeback of old N1,000 and N500 notes. According to him, those ones had been withdrawn and destroyed! The narrative has been discovered to be a lie!
But the trio of Governors Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna State, Yahyah Bello of Kogi State and Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State approached the Supreme Court to make a pronouncement over the Naira note redesign and attendant deadline for the old notes to fizzle out, as the last resort. And the apex court rose to the occasion: it held that Nigerians could spend the old Naira notes till December 2023 – beyond Emefiele’s self imposed deadline of January 31.
After the Supreme Court pronouncement, the old N1,000 and N500 notes that the former President claimed had been destroyed, resurfaced, recirculated and are still being recirculated till date.
Of course, some people have argued that Emefiele would not just wake up one day and pronounce that he was changing the colour of the Naira without informing or being instructed to do so by whoever was holding the post of the Commander-in-Chief. But that is why anyone appointed as the CBN Governor is called a technocrat: someone who should know better than the politician. Emefiele should have realised that he would be solely held responsible for anything that befalls the currency as a result of any jaundiced monetary policy.
Supposing the apex court did not rise up to the occasion then and reordered that Nigerians should continue to spend the old notes beyond Emefiele’s deadline, what would have happened is better imagined. Then, bank workers had suddenly become an endangered species. Prior to the cashless periods, the only times that banks closed shop, apart from the weekend, was during public holidays, election days. But during the cashless period, the abomination happened in Nigeria, without any public holidays or unrest or elections, banks remained under lock and key in week days, just to avoid the wrath of the frustrated and enraged citizens because they did not have cash to give.
It was a very terrible experience. And a lot of innocent souls perished as a result of cashless-induced situations in the country then.
But there are still some explanations to be made because when Emefiele was confronted why the newly coloured notes were not sufficient enough in circulation, he blamed some people who he claimed mopped up the new notes and hoarded them. He claimed that he printed well enough to go round.
So, this is where the likes of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission and other anti-graft agencies should come in. They should take Emefiele in for questioning about how he went about the recolouring misadventure. He should be asked how much he printed/recoloured and how much was spent on the project. He should be asked to disclose the identities of those he claimed that mopped up the new Naira notes and hoarded them.
The CBN on December 13, 2023 also confirmed this position though. It said despite the cash crunch facing the country now, there is over N3 trillion cash in circulation. It said it is being hoarded by those who fear there will be scarcity of naira notes during the Yuletide.
We are not oblivious that the former CBN top shot is in court but nothing in all the charges against him has anything to do with the failed Naira recolouring misadventure. The EFCC and the ICPC should embark on the task of investigating the entire criminal Naira redesign spearheaded by Emefiele. There is still more to that move that Nigerians have not been told.
The former President said that one of the gains of the Naira redesign was that he conducted a clean election. Well, cleaner elections have been held in other climes without anybody recolouring their currency. But then, Buhari is a politician and as president, he could come up with whatever strategy to cut off his opponents. But he had a pliable ally in Emefiele, a supposed technocrat who should know better. Nigerians should not have forgotten that the country had never produced a CBN Governor like Emefiele since the time immemorial.
One other weird adventure embarked upon by Emefiele was when he went back to his village to perfect his party registration to clear him for a dream of contesting the presidency, even without shedding off his well tailored suits to don agbada/babaringa. Emefiele was the first and only CBN governor all over the world that held on to his desk and at the same time, threw his hat in the ring to contest election as president! Imagine, he went to the court to make a pronouncement on how he had the right as a Nigerian to contest election as president!
On Monday, the Minister of Agriculture, Senator Abubakar Kyari, during his budget defence in the Senate, referred to Emefiele’s cashless fiasco as something that bankrupted farmers in Nigeria. But maybe someone did not nudge him to reflect on the fact that these same so-called farmers “fell in love” with Emefiele because of his messianic personality by buying his nomination form with a princely N100 million during the last party primaries.
At the end of the political shenanigan and his dream of becoming the commander-in-chief hit the rocks, Emefiele merely readjusted his suit, shrugged everything off and continued to be CBN Governor. He carried on as if nothing so fundamentally damaging had happened. In saner society, the very day such a top technocrat made any feeble attempt to step out of his brief would be the end of his day in office. But this is Nigeria.
Nigerians would not forget how some bunch of Ministers rushed to seek the office of the president and actually doled out N100 million for nomination forms while still holding on to their seats at the Federal Executive Council. They were actually hosted to a valedictory luncheon after they were informed about the need for them to put pen to paper to face their dream. But surprisingly, they all turned around to say they wanted to help the president to finish well and strong. And this is a country of more than 200 million
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Now that the economy is still in dire straits because of the currency blues, Emefiele should still be a man of interest and visitor at the various anti-graft agencies. He must know, and be able to explain better, why the colour of the Naira notes was changed, how much he actually coloured and circulated; those he claimed mopped up the new notes. Nigerians are interested to know the answers. Emefiele should be made to discharge this onerous task to the satisfaction of all and sundry. Ultimately, he should not be spared, if eventually found culpable. This is for posterity!
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