The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, announced, late last year, that it would soon re-design three of the highest denominations of Nigeria’s currencies, N1,000, N500, and N200, at the request of the federal government of Nigeria.

The last time the Central Bank of Nigeria redesigned the naira was in 2014 when it changed the design of the 100 naira note to commemorate Nigeria’s centenary.

Central Bank of Nigeria Headquarters, Abuja, Nigeria

Some of the reasons given by the bank for its planned policy were to take control of the naira in circulation, manage inflation, combat counterfeiting, and ransom payment.

The CBN’s announcement also stated these currencies would cease to become legal tenders by January 31, 2023.

When the re-design process was completed and the redesigned currencies release to the public, Nigerians were directed by CBN to take their old currency notes to their banks in exchange for the new ones.

That was the beginning of the ongoing financial crisis as most Nigerians who went to their banks with their old notes could not get new ones in exchange.

While CBN claimed that it had released enough new currencies to meet the demands of bank customers, the commercial banks, on the other hand, countered CBN’s claim, stating that there was no iota of truth in it, a situation that threw Nigerians into the deep sea of confusion.

As the cash crunch and the attendant economic and social dislocations created by the currency redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria continued, point of sale, POS, operators who had some undefined means of sourcing the new naira notes began to exploit their fellow Nigerians by offering them new naira notes in exchange for the old notes at exorbitant rates.

With no hope in sight, three state governors in Nigeria, Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, Yahaya Adoza Bello of Kogi State, and Bello Mohammed Matawalle of Zamfara State, all of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, decided to approach the Supreme Court of Nigeria to challenge some of the worrisome aspects of CBN’s redesign policy.

Fortunately for them and the ordinary Nigerians, the Supreme Court temporarily directed that the old naira notes be allowed to co-exist with their new counterparts until the case brought to it by the above-named governors had been disposed of.

While the three governors directed that the use of the old naira notes be sustained as a legal tender in their states, based on the ruling of the Supreme Court, the federal government of Nigeria, under the leadership of President Buhari, flagrantly disobeyed the interim order of the Supreme Court and insisted that the old notes ceased to be a legal tender.

President Mohammed Buhari

PRIDE is the Major Reason Nigerians Suffer Great Financial Predicament.

Several weeks later, Mr. President, Mohammadu Buhari, reluctantly came on air to announce to Nigerians that the N200 note would be released back to the public, as a legal tender to ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians as caused by CBN’s redesign policy.

The said N200 was released back into circulation, as promised by Mr. President, but that did not bring about the solution envisaged by Mr. President; instead, more and more queues of bank customers continued to gather at all the banks in Nigeria.

On the day fixed for judgment over the case of the naira re-design policy brought to it by those aggrieved governors, the apex court in the land, the Supreme Court, directed that the old N1,000, N500, and N200 notes be allowed to co-exist and remain as a legal tender until December 31, 2023.

If that judgment were to be delivered in civilized democracies of the world like the United States of America and Great Britain, that would have been the end of the financial crisis.

But because Nigerians are still waiting for their president, Mohammadu Buhari to speak and make a fresh announcement on the matter, even after the highest court in Nigeria has spoken, the crisis still persists.

Unfortunately, Mr. President who’s aware of the continued sufferings of Nigerians has refused to make the necessary announcement, so that Nigerians can continue with their normal life, which was already full of difficulties and hardship.

From common sense, the major reason Mr. President is refusing to make the much-needed announcement over the Supreme Court’s latest judgment on the validity of the old N1,000, N500, and N200 is PRIDE.

PRIDE of what?

PRIDE of not being seen as a vanquish and the PRIDE of not conceding to the three aggrieved governors of his party, who went to the Supreme Court over the matter.

If it is not PRIDE, let Mr. President make an announcement that is similar to one he made over the reintroduction of N200 into circulation and see whether the queues at our banks would not subside or disappear in seconds like a deflated balloon.

PRIDE is the Major Reason Nigerians Suffer Great Financial Predicament. THE END.

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