PUNCH
As he did in 1984 when he was a military head of state, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), introduced a naira redesign policy, which left in its wake tales of deaths, sorrow and anguish, DEBORAH TOLU-KOLAWOLE writes
Nigerians who were alive during the introduction of the naira redesign policy by the Muhammadu Buhari military junta of 1984 are not exactly surprised at the re-introduction of the same policy by the same man as a civilian President.
A human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, recalled that the redesign policy of 1984 led to the loss of lives. “In 1984, the Buhari military junta changed the colour of the naira. In a country of 81 million people, bank customers and other citizens were given only two weeks to deposit old notes and replace them with new ones. The poor implementation of the policy caused loss of lives in many parts of the country,” he said.
As it was in the beginning, it remains. On November 23, 2022, Buhari alongside the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, unveiled new naira notes in denominations of N200, N500 and N1,000. Fielding questions from journalists after the event, Emefiele, insisted that the move was not targeted at anyone.
Rather, he said the redesigned notes would give the apex bank ample control over the amount of money in circulation. He also noted that a deadline of January 31, 2023, would be put in place.
Following the CBN’s directives, Nigerians began to make moves to ensure that the old notes were safely behind the coffers of the banks.
“The funny aspect of the matter was that when we went to the banks then we were told that they didn’t have new notes to go around. Banks would pay you both in old notes and new notes”, a point of sale operator in Abuja, Andrew Peter, told our correspondent.
Though the CBN noted that it printed enough notes and supplied them to commercial banks to disburse to customers, cries of agony amidst massive protests rocked major cities in Nigeria following the scarcity of the new notes.
In Benin City, Edo State, the police confirmed the loss of two lives over naira scarcity protests. In Delta State, it was alleged that two persons were burnt to death by protesters.
In Ogun State, a person was reportedly shot dead. Banks and POS operators were not exempted from the agony of angry citizens as multiple banks were attacked across the country.
In Ogun State, it was reported that no fewer than two banks were set ablaze by angry customers on a single day.
In Delta, Rivers, Oyo, Edo and some parts of Lagos, protesters were also reported to have attacked bank and bank workers.
Following the heightened protests in states across the Federation, some state governors dragged the Federal Government to the Supreme Court over the validity of the decision to change the naira notes and the deadline provided.
