It is difficult to miss the tussle and tightness that go into most things in Nigeria today, even the basics. In the last eight years, it has become more difficult to live in Nigeria. What poverty imposed by poor economic planning and policies have left behind, insecurity has mopped up to leave many Nigerians on the brink.
Now, with the flawed elections that produced Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as Nigeria’s president-elect, it appears that the skies over Nigeria are about to get cloudier especially when one considers the fact that much of the mess of the last eight years have been the making of the All Progressives Congress, and those the party has vaulted into power in that time.
With the elections bearing down on Nigeria,the Federal Government decided to redesign the naira at the tail-end of last year. The reasons given were to stimulate the economy, curb electoral malpractices as well as insecurity.
The new notes poured into circulation on the 15th while the usage of the old notes as legal tender was to cease on 31st day of January,2023.
In a litigious country, there was litigation of course, at the Supreme Court against the policy at the behest of some state governments.
While the Supreme Court succeeded in extending the deadline by seven days, at about the 10th day of February, fifteen days to crucial elections, the policy became fully operative. But the immediate hardship was monumental. Nigerians initially found it extremely difficult to access cash for their transactions. The outcry was so great that the government said the old 200 naira notes could continue to be used as legal tender until April 2023. It led to some state governors taking potshots at President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress.
On March 3,2023,three days after disputed election results gave victory to Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Supreme Court in a unanimous judgment sent the naira redesign policy to the cleaners.The highest court of the land clearly and unequivocally said that all the conditions precedent to redesigning the notes were not complied with, and held that the old naira notes would remain legal tender until December 23,2023.
It simply beggars belief that such confusion should be allowed to reign supreme between two arms of government and leave Nigerians in a tight spot.With most of the old notes having gone out of circulation leaving Nigerians in the early stages of trying to adjust to the new policy, what good will it do to try to take Nigerians backwards and force them to relive the days when the old notes ceased to be legal tender.
The Supreme Court’s decision also asks the vital question as to why all proper consultations were not made before such a monumental step was taken.
It is unfortunate that many times it appears the government acts rather impulsively without exhausting all the steps that diligence and discretion dictate. It is the only explanation for the avoidable gaffes it plunges into many times.
Implementing the decision of the Supreme Court would present all manner of problems. For instance, it took a good amount of time to get many Nigerians on the side of the new notes. Predictably, it will many Nigerians a fair amount of time to embrace the old notes again.
That this mess is the making of the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria which are supposed to have a bevy of well-versed consultants at their beck and call indicts the mechanics of governance and public policy in Nigeria. For Nigerians, the cost of this is better imagined.
The hope is that this would be the last time such a monumental mess is made, but recent history admonishes that such hope is far-fetched.
Kene Obiezu,
Twitter:@kenobiezu
