Redesign of Nigerian notes, waste of resources, Northern Group tells FG

 

The Concerned Northern Forum, a Northern group has told the Federal Government that the proposed plan to design the naira notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) effective from December 15, is a waste of the nation’s resources.

Godwin Emefiele, the CBN Governor made that known in Abuja on Wednesday, stressing that the new design would be released by December 15, 2022.

According to the group, redesigning of the said Naira notes will only cost the nation huge sums of money at the expense of taxpayers.

The group, while reacting to CBN’s statement through its spokesman, Abdulsalam Kazeem, in Kaduna on Wednesday, expressed concern that the redesigning of the naira notes will not add value to the standard of living of Nigerians and as such the exercise is unacceptable.

“The attention of the leadership of Concerned Northern Forum has been called to a press conference organised by the current Central Bank governor in Abuja, where he stated that (the CBN) has redesigned the N200, N500 and N1000 naira notes, effective December 15, 2022.

“This to us is nothing but a sign of incompetency. Our economy as a nation is down and our Naira has depreciated to a minimal value and all the leadership of the Central Bank of Nigeria could offer us as a solution to the above is to redesign our currency.

“The redesigning of the said currency will only cost our nation huge sums of money at the expense of taxpayers,” he said.

“Emefiele added, “This is coming at a period when we are borrowing to fund significant parts of our annual budget and another significant part of the borrowing goes to debt servicing and yet the only solution the apex bank could offer is to redesign our currency.

“We are concerned as representatives of our people and region. If we may ask: will the new design make our currency to gain value at the exchange rate market? Will it add value to the standard of living of the citizenry of our region and the nation at large? These are some questions begging for immediate answers!

“If no satisfactory answers are provided, as we already expect none, for the above questions, the apex bank should immediately stop the process of the new design or it will be resisted by us in collaboration with other concerned civil society organisations from within and outside our region.

“To set the record straight, look at the current exchange rate of a Naira to a dollar or pounds and you will agree with us that our currency has lost its value completely and what we need now are serious economic policies that will strengthen our Naira against dollar and pounds and anything short of this is unacceptable by us. Because we believe this would inflict more against the value of our revered naira.

“The decision to redesign the Naira is obviously to empower certain individuals, consultants or contractors who are desperate to make something before the end of the current administration.

“This idea should be rejected by all and sundry at any rate, since it’s not in the interest of the nation and it will add no value to the current multiple economic challenges the nation is facing due to bad economic policies of the current central bank governor,” the statement further added

Declare state of emergency on flood-ravaged states – Obi tells FG

The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has called on the federal government to declare state of emergency on all states recently affected by flood.

Obi made the call on Wednesday in Taraba State where he went to sympathize with the victims of the flood disaster.

Obi, who visited the various locations affected by the disaster in Ibi Local Government Council of the state, was also observed to have beckoned at the government to adopt the global best practice that would help in desilting all its waters to avert a recurrence of floods.

Piqued by the havoc wreaked by floods across the nation, he said, “We are calling on the government to come with interventions, declare all the affected states a disaster area.”

Believing that it is not too late for the government to arrest the situation, he argued that “what the federal government has to do to stop this is to ensure that the waters are desilted.”

The candidate, who was of the view that water bodies or rivers ought to contribute to the wellbeing of the people, felt dejected that the rivers have become sources of calamities, the situation which believed can be reversed.

He admonished other presidential candidates to as a matter of urgency suspend their campaigns by assisting in raising awareness regarding the predicaments of floods victims across the country.

Several communities in Ibi, Lau and Karim-Lamido local government councils of the state, it would be recalled were recently submerged by floods following heavy downpours that lasted several hours in the aforementioned councils.