NAIRA RE-DESIGN: CONCERNED CITIZENS IN EBONYI REACT
REPORTER: SIMON IDUMA
More reactions have continued to trail the re-designing of some denominations of the Naira by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Some respondents, who spoke with Radio Nigeria on the policy, expressed divergent views on the matter.
The CBN is the sole issuer of the Naira, which is the legal tender in the country.
The Apex bank also controls the volume of money supplied in the economy in order to ensure monetary and price stability.
The Currency Operations Department of the CBN is therefore, saddled with the responsibility of currency management through the designs, procurement, distribution and supply, as well as processing, reissue and disposal or disintegration of bank notes or coins.
The CBN had at various times in the past embarked on re-designing of the Naira.
In April 1984 for instance, the Central Bank of Nigeria changed the colours of all naira banknotes in an attempt to control money laundering.
Just recently, the CBN announced the re-designing of some Naira denominations, which it noted was not targeted at any group.
The project elicited various reactions from a cross section of people in Abakaliki the Ebonyi State capital.
An economist, Dr. BigBen Ogbonna, described the project as long overdue.
Dr. Ogbonna, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki while alluding to a report by CBN that about 80% of money in circulation is outside the banking system, expressed concern that the situation had rendered all monetary policies of the apex bank impotent.
Dr. Ogbonna, however, expressed optimism that the CBN would put measures in place to check activities of unpatriotic elements, who may embark on massive conversation of naira in foreign correncies, thereby making the project counter productive.
For his part, a public affairs analyst, Dr. Livinus Ezeuwa, said the pronouncement came to him as a surprise.
Dr. Ezeuwa said the policy, despite it’s initial challenges, was well intended by the CBN to revamp the nation’s economy and called on Nigerians to accept it.
A legal practitioner, Mr. Sampson Ekigbo, expressed reservation over the project.
Mr. Ekigbo expressed concern about the volume of money in the hands of few individuals, especially the political class outside the banking system, a situation he said was inimical to the economy of the country.
He called on the CBN to go beyond re-designing the naira and evolve policies to revamp the manufacturing and agricultural sectors as Nigeria had become a dumping ground of all manner of goods thereby increasing unemployment rate in the country.
Others called for synergy between CBN and government at all levels to improve the living condition of Nigerians.
EDITED BY CHUKWUBUIKE MADU
