TOYIN FALOLA FROM PREMIUM TIMES
We have been fighting these wars and winning. Truly, pressure ti wa, but we are Nigerians – no matter the pressure, we meuve!
Whatever troubles the country is currently facing, let us see it as a sacrifice and the price we have to pay to rescue our land from the hands of the devourers. We have been fighting these wars and winning, no matter how small our victories appear to be. Truly, pressure ti wa, but we are Nigerians – no matter the pressure, we meuve!
Sufie stands in the scorching sun in Sabon Gari; his hands protruding outside like a statue. He had no energy to talk and his legs were failing. But he has found himself in the midst of others, some on the floor and others running after each vehicle that passes – every man to his own problem. His last energy is reserved to keep him standing as long as he can and he stretches his little hand out as far as he could. He had just returned from the closest buka, where he would normally take customers’ leftover food, but wallahi, no customer this time, so he has to face it. Sufie is one of the many beggars but business is no longer business as usual. He has learnt a new English phrase, no cash, from everyone he begs for money. Which is more like a bad omen. They all say the same thing as they walk slowly past him. From their demeanour and the looks on their faces, he sometimes thinks their troubles are far more than his. No one is dropping new ten naira notes into beggars’ plates, an obligation they usually do after receiving instructions from their spiritual guardians to give ten beggars N10 notes or do something similar. Standing emaciated, Sufie has not eaten in the past two days and there is no hope of food in sight. No Cash! Beggars suffer more!
Babagana, a sugarcane cart pusher, looked helplessly as his eight-year-old son asked for his daily feeding money to school. He looked up to the sky and wished this was not his reality. Some months back, he could confidently boast of his neatly stacked naira notes underneath his Ghana must go bag. Not too far in a distinct community, Mama Sade, a small-scale retailer, also counts her losses as her tomatoes perish without patronage. Her business no longer holds the prospect it had. The Emefiele saga has gotten to her. Mama no dey collect transfer! The pressure is getting wesser.
On 26 October, 2022, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, announced that the naira notes would be redesigned, with the Nigerian government claiming it would be a good attempt to withdraw the over N3.23 trillion in circulation. The apex bank had claimed that one of the reasons for enforcing this policy is the fact that about 85% of naira notes are in circulation, outside the vault of banks in the country. Well, every society must find ways to strengthen its economy and a move towards a cashless policy is the right attempt to revitalise the economy; however, the challenge lies in the appropriateness of the enforcement of such policies and their effects on the people. The people’s welfare and interests must be first considered in all policymaking processes. All enforcement procedures must be carefully done in the best way, so that they would have minimum impact on the people.
Till today, Nigerians still wonder, “why the urgency?” If the purpose is to curb electoral malpractices, why then commence the process a few months before the election? Without considering the gimmicks and jokes about the “coloured” naira notes that have been taken too far, the general consensus on the street is that (1) the government and others would enact new policies to guarantee their success at the polls; (2) there is sabotage aimed at political parties and aspirants in the coming elections; and (3) there are massive embezzlement schemes by the outgoing government; among other these and that. While these are largely unfounded, given the situation of things, the odds, and the immediate effects of the policies, many have been unable to come up with arguments that would disprove the assumptions on the street. But the question I will always ask is, why the pressure?
