Mr Ogedi Ogu, a lawyer and Country Director of Advocacy for Justice and Accountability, a non-governmental organisation, says redesign of Naira notes remains a laudable policy in spite of some challenges.
Ogu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos that the policy should be sustained to protect and strengthen the Naira.
NAN reports that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) earlier set Jan. 31 as the deadline for withdrawal of old N1000, N500 and N200 notes from circulation.
The CBN, however, extended the deadline until Feb. 10, to enable Nigerians to deposit their old notes in exchange for new ones.
However, Nigerians are complaining of scarcity of both the old and the new naira notes, saying that it is causing much hardship.
Ogu told NAN that the cash crunch would only be for a while, but the benefits of the policy would last.
The lawyer advised the CBN to adhere strictly to the new deadline for Naira swap to ensure total control of the legal tender.
Ogu urged Nigerians to see the current cash crunch as a temporary inconvenience and accommodate it because of the benefits of the policy.
“This is one of the best policies government has made in recent times. It is a policy geared toward ensuring that the Naira retains its value.
“Notwithstanding the non-availability of the new notes, I must say that the policy is laudable.
“One should expect that there will be challenges as with every innovation.
“Looking at the rationale behind the policy, we must all understand that it won’t be so easy at the beginning.
“However, it now appears that some of these cash crunch are man-made; the CBN can begin to wield its big stick on commercial banks to begin to dispense the new notes,’’ he said.
Ogu said that since the CBN had assured Nigerians that the new notes had been made available to commercial banks, defaulting banks should be severely sanctioned.
“Unless the CBN uses a defaulting bank to set an example, others may not fall in place,” he said.
He said that adherence to the deadline would ensure that those “warehousing funds’ would be left with no options but to deposit the money.
“If we ask ourselves why we still see old Naira notes flying around, then the answer is simply because many others have refused to bring out the notes from their hideouts.
“They do this believing that the deadline will keep moving forward; so, I expect the CBN to insist on its deadline.
“The policy is a very laudable one which should be sustained,” he said. (NAN)
