Last night, I watched the Coordinating Minister, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Business Mogul, Aliko Dangote, National Planning Minister, Shamsudeen Usman, Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi on the NTA all spoke in favour of the proposed plan of the apex bank. With that, it became apparent that the Central Bank and the economic team have concluded with Mr. President before making it public. This marks the beginning of another anti-people policy of the present administration following the removal of the fuel price subsidy on the 1st of January, 2012. This can also leave us with the thought that the present administration has nothing to offer Nigerians than continuous hardship and compounded problems.
Lest we forget, in 2009 when the Former CBN Governor, Charles Soludo wanted to restructure the Naira based on his own personal reasoning and hypothesis, Late President Umar Musa Yar’adua stopped him not because he didn’t believe in his hypothesis, but because it was anti-people. That is, Nigerians were not in support. That is the kind of democratic President Nigeria deserves. Indeed, in Umar Musa Yar’adua are great lessons for Goodluck Jonathan if he is ready to learn.
Democracy is all about the people and the peoples’ voice must not only be heard, it must be considered and given preference as a matter of democratic importance. In the present case, Mr. President in his normal way is watching Sanusi Lamido Sanusi to further destroy the image of his struggling government. President Goodluck Jonathan has forgotten so soon that it was the same Sanusi Lamido Sanusi in collaboration with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Diezani Allison Maduekwe and the Governors that led him to make the unpopular decision of removing the fuel price subsidy earlier this year. When the Nigerian people occupied the streets and stood against the President’s decision, how many of his advisers stood by him? They left him with his problems. It was then that Sanusi started singing a new song that he didn’t say Nigeria was broke.
Before it is too late, President Goodluck Jonathan is advised to beware of the hypocrites he is surrounded with and take decisions that would always be in the best interest of Nigerians. He must dissociate himself from approval of speculative policies that could have adverse effect on the lives of the down-throding masses. No wonder, the President described himself as the most criticized President. Why would he not be criticized when his successive decisions are destructive to the will of the people.
The media and Nigerians at large have been asking Sanusi and his people, what are the economic benefits of the monetary policy? They have not been able to convince anybody. They have been dodging relevant questions involved. The National Assembly has disengaged itself from the implementation of the policy, likewise the NBA, NLC and several other important stake-holders. But the Kano Prince is adamant on going ahead with his plan hiding under the stupid concept of the Central Bank’s autonomy.
It would interest my readers to know that no matter how autonomous the Central Bank is, it can’t be greater than the Federal Executive Council of Nigeria, headed by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The President is the only one who can stop Sanusi and his team before it is too late. If they go ahead to implement the policy, the poor Nigerian majority would suffer very much indeed.
I might not be an economist, but every field of knowledge is not independent of reasoning and common sense. Sufficient precedent had equally shown that most of governmental policies in Nigeria are always in favour of the rich and to the detriment of the poor. After all, some other economists have spoken and argued against this policy.
There are a number of issues crying for answers. In the first place, the coinage of N5, N10, and N20 would mean that the least currency in Nigeria would be N50. We all know the attitude of Nigerians towards coins. So, pure water would now go for N50. God forbid! This would result in serious inflation that the poor would not be able to cope with.
Secondly, before any expert can introduce any policy, no matter how beneficial that policy is, he is duty bound to study the environment where the policy is to be introduced and implemented. The truth of the matter is that some people would not accept coins again and there is no viable security apparatus or judicial system to enforce the law against them. Once they arrest few people, it would later die down and we would forget ever having N5, N10 or N20 naira in Nigeria.
Similarly, If the policy is not actually for the rich against the poor as I have mentioned above, why can’t they leave N5, N10 , N20 naira alone and coin N5000? More importantly, we need to note that majority of the rich in Nigeria would not be affected because they don’t buy pure water. We have enough precedent in the manners by which our kobos and N1 naira vanished up till today. In Saudi Arabia, their 1 Riyaal is still in existence and very much useful. The same thing applies to many other countries of the world. Our own case is of a pathetic exception.
Also, the introduction of N5000 note would aid embezzlement. Looting of public funds would be so easy to the extent that millions of Naira can be laundered by our leaders using their pockets. In the same vein, one wonders what is really wrong with Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and his policies. It was the same Sanusi that advocated a cashless economy. So, of what benefit would the new notes be to the cashless policy?
I must add that this article is not maliciously put up to tarnish the image of the present administration or any personality. It was motivated by good faith and public opinion. I patiently monitored the opinion poll over this policy on Channels TV’s Sun Rise Daily, the opinion poll against the policy was over 90%. So, what are we talking about? Is Sanusi the first person to read Economics in Nigeria? Truly, he is not the first and he is not the last.
We know the kind of leaders we have. Even if they won’t listen, we must voice out and let them know our problems with them, so that when the adverse effect of their speculative policies start coming to play, we would have cleared our conscience that we have warned them. Our major concern is the rate of poverty in Nigeria and our corrupt system.
Finally, instead of using billions of Naira to finance this monetary policy, why not use it to fight poverty and unemployment. Our health, education and power sectors are crying for help. The fund can as well go for infrastructural projects and other laudable initiatives.
Thanks.
By: Abdul Lanre Esq.
Abuja, Nigeria
08188802495
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