stirred another round of controversies on Thursday, August 23, 2012
when he announced the bank's intention to introduce a mega-value
N5,000 currency note in addition to large-scale redesigning and
restructuring of our currencies.
According to Sanusi, come some time early next year, in addition to
the new N5,000 note, the existing N50, N100, N200, N500 and N1,000
notes "will be redesigned with added new security features" with
improved security features which will make them more user-friendly to
visually-impaired persons, while the lower denominations will be
turned into coins.
According to him, the N5,000 note will be used to honour the
contributions of women to the struggle for Nigeria's independence; our
founding mothers, foremost of whom are Margaret Ekpo, Funmilayo
Ransome-Kuti and Gambo Sawaba.
There have been uproarious protests, especially from the opposition
political parties such as the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the
Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and other members of the public,
including economists. They are worried that the new N5,000 note will
worsen the inflationary rate, exacerbate the already endemic
corruption in the system and generally negate the noble objective of
the "Cashless Policy", which is still struggling for acceptance in its
experimental stage.
The critics also posit that reintroducing coins which have proved no
longer popular in Nigeria might simply force market retailers to peg
N50 as the lowest acceptable legal tender.
Out of concern over the chaotic situation this has created, the Senate
has stepped in, ordering the CBN to suspend action until a proper
parliamentary inquest is conducted into it.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other
Financial Institutions, Senator Bassey Edet Otu, said there was a need
for parliament's approval of the project before it can go forward due
to "the numerous fiscal implications on the entire economy."
We support this move by the Senate in its entirety.
Even though the CBN has wide ranging powers to regulate monetary
issues, including currency administration, it is important for it to
carry Nigerians along with it to avoid the confusion and complaints of
impunity that trailed earlier CBN interventions, particularly the
take-over of ailing banks and unexplained sourcing of N620 billion to
bolster them up in the process of turning them into "bridge banks".
Power given to institutions of government is for the benefit of
Nigerians and not to be wielded for its own sake. Nigerians must be
allowed to participate in the public hearing that will ensue in the
Senate and House of Reps, when this matter is considered to determine
if we really need it, some of it or none of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment