Naira redesign: CBN deadline is insensitive, spells doom for the country’s economy – Experts

Economic experts have stated that refusing to extend the date is inconsiderate and would spell disaster for the country’s economy as the deadline of January 31, 2023, set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to phase out the old naira notes approaches. 

This call to extend the time period in which old naira notes can still be used as legal tender joins others made by stakeholders, such as the National Assembly. 

The Senate requested the CBN move the deadline from January 31 to June 30 in December. In a resolution put up by Senator Ali Ndume and backed by his colleagues at a plenary, the upper house made this decision. 

There are further reasons to be confused about how quickly the top bank implemented the naira redesign strategy in less than three months, as concerns about a genuine crisis grow. 

When Obasanjonews24 reached out to Mr. Osita Nwanisobi, director of corporate communications at CBN, he stated he was too busy at the bank’s monetary policy meeting to react to our correspondents’ questions about the naira redesign deadline. 

The CEO of the Center for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, CPPE, Dr. Muda Yusuf, discussed the situation with Obasanjonews24 and stated that it would be impolite for CBN to insist on the January 31, 2023, deadline. 

In light of the apparent inadequacies and logistical shortcomings, he contends that the apex bank needs to be more realistic about the timeline. 

He claimed that if CBN continues to carry out the deadline of January 31, it will violate citizens’ basic human rights. 

“The CBN needs to be realistic about this timetable; the redesign of the naira implementation still has a lot of room for improvement.

” “The amount of new naira notes that are currently available is insufficient, in terms of their sufficiency.” The other gap is in logistics; CBN never considered the implications of logistics. 

The best course of action logistically is to extend the deadline. “It will spend the hard-earned money of the people.” “CBN’s insistence on a date that would cause more suffering for Nigerians is extremely inconsiderate.” It will make the system extremely confusing. CBN, a government organisation, shouldn’t follow this rule. 

“In other regions, current redesign policy implementation takes place over a two-year period. Here in Nigeria, CBN plans to complete it in less than two months.

 The National Assembly and other interested parties have requested that the CBN extend the January 31 deadline. If President Muhammadu Buhari didn’t speak up, the economy would be severely impacted. 

He said that the CBN would be violating the fundamental human rights of Nigerian citizens if it persisted. 

The CBN deadline of January 31, according to financial analyst Mr. Idakolo Gbolade, is not realistic. 

He claimed that the CBN deadline extension will hasten the policy’s national implementation. 

“I do not foresee a successful policy execution in a week to the deadline if the CBN does not flood the country with new notes and even employ alternative means of exchanging them for Nigerians other than commercial banks,” the man added.

“Last week, the CBN introduced a cash swap strategy for rural areas to exchange old notes for new ones. The deadline must be extended in order for the cash swap programme to be effective.

 “I am now coming to the conclusion that the deadline is punitive and could result in big losses for some ignorant Nigerians if the dynamics remain the same.” 

Additionally, Prof. Godwin Oyedokun, a professor of accounting and financial development at Lead City University in Ibadan, claimed that the deadline extension was unavoidable. 

He believed that the ineffectiveness of the CBN and those in charge of the government should not be endured by Nigerians. 

“I have stated that an extension of this date is inevitable for a long time.” It is well known that there aren’t many of these notes available on the market. 

“As citizens, it is not our fault, and we cannot be compelled to suffer the incompetence of people in positions of authority.

” “It is expected that the CBN should do the necessary by extending this by some reasonable days,” he said. “Now that the notes are not in circulation or in sufficient quantities, this is expected.” 

Late last year, namely on October 26, the CBN revealed its currency redesign programme. Barely a month later, on November 23, President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled the new naira notes, and on December 15, they went into circulation. 

The commercial banks were given instructions by the apex bank to make sure that only banknotes were distributed through their ATMs. But several banks persisted in defying the directive. 

The old naira notes still make up the majority of money in circulation nationally, with fewer than seven days until the deadline of January 31. 

The clamour for extending the deadline has grown too loud to ignore, despite the CBN’s efforts, including its most recent cash-swap programme.