Naira redesign: Dollar may crash to N200 –EFCC Chairman

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has said the dollar might drop to ₦200 after the redesigning of the naira.

 

Bawa stated this in an interview with Deutsche Welle (DW) Hausa service, saying President Muhammadu Buhari did well to approve the redesigning.

 

He said, “The law says the redesigning of Naira notes should be done every eight years but we spent 20 years without any changes on them. And that resulted in 85 per cent of money being in circulation not in banks, when CBN came up with this redesigning, dollar moved to 880 and later dropped to 680 or thereabouts.

“So you see with this redesigning dollar may massively fall, who knows probably to ₦200.”

The EFCC chair also said there is no political motive behind the idea and called on Nigerians to report any person with siphoned monies.

 

“There is no political motive in this; some people siphoned and hid public funds that are why we want them to bring them out and nobody says they should not bring them, what government says is let them deposit such money in banks.

 

“We assure Nigerians that we are always ready to receive reports of any person with suspicious hidden money and if investigated to be true, we will give 5 percent of the money to them,” he added.

 

Meanwhile, Senate has mandated its Committee on Banking, Insurance, and other financial institutions to embark on an aggressive oversight to ensure Nigerians are adequately protected from operations of CBN, banks on implementation of the naira redesign policy.

 

Senate resolution was sequel to a motion passed at plenary on Wednesday” on the redesign on the new naira notes by the CBN and call for legislative support.”

 

The motion which was a point of order was sponsored by Sen.Uba Sani(APC-Kaduna.)

 

Uba, while presenting the motion said currency management was a key function of the CBN.

 

He said the integrity of the naira and efficient supply of bank notes are indicators of a performing central bank, especially in predominantly cash-based economies such as Nigeria.

 

He said that currency management in recent times in Nigeria had faced a series of challenges and affected the ability of CBN to efficiently carry out its mandate of legal tender to members of the public.

 

He said the challenges were primarily centred around wholesale hoarding of the naira bank notes by members of the public.

 

According to him, available statistics showed that cash outside the Nigerian banks consists of over 80 percent of the currency in circulation as of the end of June 2022.

 

Sani noted that the data indicated that N2.72 trillion out of the N3.26 trillion currency in circulation was outside the domain of commercial banks across the country.

 

He said recent developments in computer technology and printing device has made the production of counterfeit money relatively easy, thereby increasing the potential threats of counterfeiting.

 

According to him, the banks in recent years have recorded a consistent rise in incidences of counterfeiting of the naira with N500 and N1,000 denominations bank notes.

 

He said the redesign of the currency notes would help make the monetary policy more efficacious, while further help in curbing the depreciation of the naira

 

“The redesign would assist in curbing the terrorist access for funds as ransom as the movement of funds would be tracked easily by the banks.”

 

He said although Nigerians have legitimate concerns about the time frame to comply with the policy, there was a need for Nigerians to comply, given the importance of the policy to the economy at the moment.

 

The minority leader, Sen Philip Aduda (PDP-FCT), who second and supported the motion said the redesign of the currency by law was to be done every 10 years.

 

He, however, said the vulnerable in rural communities should be assisted by the banks during the implementation of the policy, as many of the people do not practice modern banking operations.

 

Aduda said there was a need for the CBN to embark on massive sensitisation and enlightenment on the naira redesign in the rural areas, saying that many rural dwellers were not aware of the policy.

 

Other senators who supported the motion and shared the sentiments of Aduda on the fate of the rural dwellers on the naira redesign included Senators Sabi Abdullahi (APC-Niger), James Manager(PDP-Delta) Ali Ndume(APC-Bornu), Barau Jibril (APC-Kano) and Chukwuka Utazi(PDP-Enugu).

 

Sen.Biodun Olujimi(PDP-Ekiti)said the one-month timeframe was too short for Nigerians to transfer the cash at their disposal to the commercial banks.

 

According to her, caution should be taken not to shut down the economy given the timeframe for the implementation of the policy.

 

Sen. Betty Apiafi (PDP-Rivers)asked rhetorically if the naira redesign policy would further improve the economy, adding that there was a need to get clarification on its effect on the economy from CBN before implementation.

 

Sen.Orji-Uzor Kalu (APC-Abia) called for the extension of the time frame to April 31, given the festive period, as Nigerians would be occupied with several activities, and may be struggling to meet up with the timeline given by the CBN.

 

Sen.Gabriel Suswan (PDP-Benue) said it would be ridiculous for the Senate to give legislative support for a policy that has been concluded on implementation by the CBN.

 

Suswan expressed reservations about the announcement of the naira redesign, adding that it increased the inflation level in the country.

 

Another resolution passed by the Senate on the motion was to provide legislative support for the redesign of the new banknotes by CBN.

 

It also encouraged Nigerians and the general public to comply with the CBN directives to deposit cash at their respective commercial banks within the timeline.

 

It also resolved to support the decision of the CBN, given the benefits of the currency redesign to the nation.

 

Senate has urged the Federal Government to allocate part of the service-wide vote allocation of N500 billion to the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency(FERMA) for urgent rehabilitation of roads destroyed by flood.

This followed the adoption of a motion by Sen. Bassey Gershom(PDP-Cross River) at plenary on Wednesday.

Presenting the motion, Gershom said that the 2022 flood was high, given the history of flooding in Nigeria.

 

According to him, the rise in water level was more than the 2012 and 2020 flood incidences in the country.

 

He said the flood has further deepened the deplorable state of Nigeria’s federal roads.

 

He said the call for the fund become became necessary given the inaccessible nature of some major interstate roads, as the roads and some bridges have been washed off by the heavy floods.

 

This, he said has created economic and security challenges for Nigerians.

 

According to him, road transportation is the major means of transportation in Nigeria given the non affordability of air transport by most Nigerians.

 

He said the movement of commuters and other Nigerians occasioned by Yuletide season would be impacted adversely given the deplorable roads caused by a flood.

 

The Senate also in its resolution called for the expansion of the NNPC Ltd Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme to cover the maintenance of failed sections of federal roads. (NAN).

 

 

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