CICLAC WARNS CBN ON CONSEQUENCES OF NAIRA REDESIGN
The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre has said that the plan by Central Bank of Nigeria to redesign 200, 500 and 1,000 naira notes is not an economic priority for the country, considering the current economic woes.
The Executive Director of CISLAC, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani on thursday in a statement said that to change naira notes is not a solution but complication to the poor monetary policies and growing economic woes; huge fiscal deficits, free fall of the naira, soaring inflation rates, multiple forex rates and rising borrowing costs.
He said that Nigerians’ concerned reactions to the announcement is a proof that the decision by the CBN is a misplaced priority and distraction from fulfilling priority statutory obligations.
“Various comments and responses from concerned Nigerians, show that a large number of Nigerians are worried about the misplacement of priorities of the Apex Bank to make such a decision that comes with possibly huge logistics costs and avoidable dislocations to small businesses, most of whom are in the informal sector” he said.
He maintained that the reasons for this decision seem no different from those given for the forex demand management strategy which resulted in a non-satisfactory conclusion as the artificially low exchange rate failed to be as reflective of the market as possible to improve supply, but this time it only threatens damning economic consequences for Nigerians.
He said that that Nigeria is grappling with the external pressures from the incapacity of the Central Bank of Nigeria to protect foreign exchange reserves from external outflows and making forex available to the ordinary citizens who genuinely and legitimately need it, adding that the huge blow to foreign direct investment shows the inability of the CBN to do its job effectively.
The CISLAC boss said that CBN has a lot to do to win back public trust and confidence because it’s macro-economic policies brought nothing but untold hardship on the country’s economy, consequently affecting Nigerians negatively adding that it has floated multiple exchange rate regimes and has been accused of facilitating arbitrage between the parallel and official foreign exchange markets, providing huge financial patronage and extending forex-based favours to allies.
“The Apex Bank needs to do a lot to recover the confidence of the public by addressing its inability to ensure; Blockage of illicit financial flows and checkmating the use of financial systems to fund terrorism by strengthening oversight of commercial banks used as conduits for corruption,” adding that “Foreign investors rely on authoritative indexes like the Global Terrorism Index and even economic indexes that include an evaluation of security and stability, to inform their investment decisions;
“Intensifying collaborations with relevant anti-corruption agencies to check dubious charges by some commercial banks, who keep shortchanging poor Nigerians whose reducing disposable income is further worsened by growing inflation costs and unemployment;
“Reduction of competition with other agencies by going beyond its purview to drive interventions in sectors without the consent or cooperation of the relevant coordinating ministries. The CBN’s continued and unsolicited support for MSMEs can be more effective by ensuring synergy between the fiscal and the monetary authorities on intervention funds and adopting transparent mechanisms for beneficiaries to access;
“Availability of forex to those who legitimately need it like students studying out of the country and businesses. The artificially low exchange rate has failed to be as reflective of the market as possible and this has affected access to forex for payment of foreign tuition fees and the importation of systems and raw materials which contribute greatly to the country’s worsening economic situation. There is a huge blow to our foreign direct investment as foreign investors are leaving due to their inability to access forex;
He pointed out that in this desperate period of economic woes for Nigeria, the CBN’s efforts will be better served in pushing robust monetary policies that are in tandem with global best practices, fighting inflation and building a strong financial system in an increasingly uncertain global economy.
He called for the sanitization of the CBN recruitment processes, which are non-transparent as they seem to be reserved exclusively for the children, wards and affiliates of politically exposed persons.
