No fewer than 472 civil society organisations in the country have hailed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, for standing firm on the deadline for full implementation of the new Naira policy, tasking him not to shirk in his responsibility of enthroning a sound economic policy for the country.
The groups under the aegis of the Civil Society Central Coordinating Council, at a press conference, Tuesday in Abuja, claimed that Nigerians have started seeing the gains of the new Naira policy of the Federal government.
The coalition, last week, passed a vote of confidence in the New Naira policy and on both President Muhammadu Buhari and the CBN Governor.
The National Coordinator of the group, Obed Okwukwe, who read the prepared text of the media conference, said the hitches of unavailability of cash for small businesses are not unconnected with sabotage.
Noting that money moves in cycles, Okwukwe said the scarcity of cash being witnessed by Nigerians is because State governors are allegedly mopping up the money and stopping it from circulating.
He said: “Since the implementation of the new Naira policy, Nigerians and indeed the system has started seeing the gains. Except for the hitches of the unavailability of cash particularly for small businesses, which is caused by sabotage from those who do not want the policy so they can continue with their illicit trade, other major indicators show that the impact of the policy on our economy is quite positive.
“Also on security, the impact is being felt as kidnappers now know that there is no cash to pay for ransom. In our electoral process, it is now obvious to Nigerians that it is only the vote buyers that are complaining.
“This policy is facing a syndicated attack from a group of governors who we have termed the G10 Governors.
“These governors have vowed that this policy will not see the light of the day. They are willing to go the extra mile including making our country ungovernable and undermining constitutional governance and bring the entire country to a halt all for their own reasons.”
The prepared speech read in part: “The CBN had announced that it deployed N300 billion in cash as the first tranche of cash it disbursed. We all can agree that the money was hijacked and did not trickle down to the people and the people who took hold of it from the Commercial banks have not brought it out to circulate.
“They are withholding the money using various means including deploying agents who use multiple ATM cards to withdraw the money, colluding with their banker agents to continue to trap the money in the banks and buying off cash from business places that ordinarily make huge cash transactions like petrol stations, supermarkets and departmental stores.
” This has made some of these businesses insist on only cash payment as the profit they make from the sales of the Naira covers for the loss of business from those who do not have the cash to pay.”
The group claimed that,”We have uncovered a grand plot by ten governors who have resolved to make Nigeria ungovernable for President Muhammadu Buhari if he refuses to reverse the new Naira policy.”
“It is amazing to note that the governors behind this plot were the same governors a couple of years ago took advantage of every opportunity to praise President Muhammadu Buhari to the high heavens.
“However, obviously because the second tenure is coming to an end, these governors now believe that the President is not deserving of their respect. That is quite hypocritical. It means all they were showing the President was sycophantic solidarity hence we must therefore remind them at this point in time that President Muhammadu Buhari is and still remains the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria until the 29th May 2023 and not one day before.
“Unfortunately, these governors have switched allegiance to a new godfather not minding that he is yet to win the Presidential election. They are willing to dare constitutional governance and do anything including creating anarchy just to enthrone him and achieve their narrow political ambitions. Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State as you all know has announced that once their candidate wins, they would cancel the new Naira policy.”
“Our intelligence shows that there will be intensified cash-scarcity drama across the geopolitical zones. People will pretend to collapse, people will go naked. there will be pre-arranged fights and many other things to press home their demands.
“Many people have been activated to make this happen. Groups have also been mobilized to daily report to at various bank ATM locations to always stand around and help create the impression and make it look like there are crowds at the banks who are not being attended to.
“Scenes will be created and this is expected to put more pressure on the system and lead to the abandonment or reversal of the policy.
It must be noted that this policy has succeeded in reducing the financial recklessness, money laundering and vote-buying capacities of these governors hence the ferocious fight they are giving the policy. If like they say that their concern is the suffering poor citizens in their states, one would now ask, Why have they not thought out any ideas that could make the policy work? Why are they only interested in ensuring that the policy is abandoned or killed?
“In case they do not know, Nigerians are happy that this policy has hit them hard and curtailed their excesses. Nigerians are totally in support of this policy and for now, the governors can cry all they want, the policy lives and the old Naira notes are gone for good.
“Their plot to instigate businesses to shut down and go on strike claiming cash scarcity will fail as Nigerians have seen through all these. The storyline that has been spun that the cash scarcity was designed to make their candidate look bad is a false narrative; these ten governors are behind the scarcity to force abandonment.
“The ultimate plan where the policy is kept alive is to cause civil disobedience, cause riots, make the country ungovernable and intimidate the President and the CBN Governor to reverse the policy. All this so that these ten governors can have money to buy votes during the election.
“The monies are already warehoused in the old notes and asking them to return same to the banks without having assurance to such volume cash is what is paining these Nigerian governors.”
The groups said: ”Nigerians must not allow a few desperate people to stop the wheel of constitutional governance in our country.”
“The new Naira policy is not aimed at impoverishing the people nor is it aimed at making the people suffer more hardship. It was a beautifully thought out policy with perfect timing to checkmate the use of cash to subvert the sovereignty of the people, immediately stop counterfeiting, strengthen the Naira, and checkmate ransom taking, banditry and money laundering.
“These are the reasons why Nigerians support this policy.
“For us in the civil society, this policy has come to stay. There is no going back. This is the best time for it to be implemented, just before the elections. It is a masterstroke and we commend the CBN and President Muhammadu Buhari for the outstanding courage to initiate this policy,” the text further read.