Over 30m Nigerians may lose funds to new currency policy

Old naira notes 

By Akinola Ajibade

Over 30 million Nigerians may lose their hard-earned money to currency swap programme, in the event that they unable to change their old notes to new ones, the Chief Executive officer, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise [CPPE], Dr Muda Yusuf has said.

He said the more than thirty million people represent unbanked population, adding that their inability to have access to banking services would prevent them from changing their old notes to new ones, expect they have other means of doing so.  

Yusuf said that there are also millions who are not educated and would be affected by the policy, guiding the conversion of old to new notes..

Yusuf 

How are people who do not have accounts  change their money from old to new notes? It means that the currency, which they are keeping would be useless, he said 

According to him,  the Central Bank of Nigeria  (CBN) is inflicting additional pains on already traumatized millions of innocent Nigerians seeking to return the old notes.

CBN,Yusuf said, made the issue of changing old notes to new ones  more worrisome,by not specifically telling Nigerians whether they should take their money to commercial banks or the apex bank in order to change it.

Continuing further, the former Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industries( LCCI) President, urged CBN to simplified the process of SWAP the currency, with a view to accommodate millions of rural dwellers, the informal sector players, the over 30 million unbanked Nigerians and several millions that are not literate.

Yusuf said amid the chaos which accompanied the implementation of the new naira notes, it  is evidently impractical for the CBN offices to properly handle this process of receiving old currency notes which are still in abundance in the hands of milions of Nigerians, noting, that there is only one branch of the CBN office in each state of the federation and the FCT.

“It is practically impossible for the CBN to manage this process without subjecting our citizens to another round of harrowing experience.

“The experience and images and disorderliness of the past few days at the CBN offices graphically illustrates this position.

“We appeal to the President Muhammadu Buhari and the CBN to give this process a human face. The agony and trauma inflicted by the entire management of the policy is unspeakable. Accordingly, We plead with the CBN to allow the old notes to be deposited at the commercial banks to ease the current pains and ordeal of returning the old notes.”

According to him, The current guidelines which require filling of forms on the CBN portals, generating codes etc. does not reckon with millions of Nigerians that seek to return their old notes who are not literate, who don’t have access to internets and who are in very remote locations in various parts of the country.

Speaking further, he said that Nigerians and are entitled to a fair consideration in the implementation process as most of them are women, microenterprises and small businesses contributing immensely to employment, poverty reduction and social stability at the bottom of the economic pyramid of our country.

“It is bad enough that their lives and livelihoods have been terribly disrupted and disoriented.

“We plead with the CBN to review its processes in the interest of fairness, justice and social inclusion.” Yusuf demanded.