Following the persistent scarcity of naira notes nationwide, Nigerians are now groaning heavier under the yoke of alleged official deafness to their plight.
Various sections of the economy and social life have ebbed, but the pervading scope of the biting naira redesign policy was noticeable at worship centres at the weekend.
An investigation by ThisNigeria yesterday showed that churches and mosques, especially, are getting weighed down by the scope of financial depletion now glaringly noticeable in their coffers.
The Federal Government, through the apex bank in the country, has aggressively been pursuing a policy of redesigning the nation’s currency notes, in suggested disregard to the inadequacies inherent in its drive to push Nigerians on the digital and electronic payment line.
But the efforts have been pushing the citizens to the edge, as a serious cash crunch is now the order of the day.
And it appears that the situation has taken a new twist as worshippers in churches and mosques –the two main religions in the country – are now resorting to sourcing money from churches, mosques, and other religious centres.
*Worshippers resort to churches, mosques for succour as tithes, offerings drop
Random investigations show that tithes, offerings, and other items of financial sacrifice have significantly dropped, especially in churches.
“It is obvious that churches are experiencing the impact of the economic crisis very hard,” Chinedu, a journalist, told ThisNigeria last night.
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It was also gathered that, apart from the cash crunch, there has been an increasing demand on the church leaders by their congregation for financial support towards feeding, accommodation, and children’s tuition.
Some church leaders who spoke on the ground of anonymity admitted that the policy has seriously been down-railing the current economic situation in the country.
One of them confirmed that Sunday services in the church had dropped, while even fewer members attended midweek services.
“We used to have as much as N350,000 as offering on Sundays in our services and as much as N1m as tithe monthly. But now, we hardly get N150,000 as offering and N400,000 as tithes monthly,” a cleric confided in a national daily online.
He added that the development had also increased the burden of the church in taking care of members in need.
Bola Lawal, a member of a leading Pentecostal church at Agege, Lagos, complained that he could only secure N2,000 at the end of the day, on a request for an N5,000 loan request to which he had been assured of earlier before the start of service yesterday.
It is a similar situation in mosques. A worshipper in one of the mosques in Abuja was quoted as saying, “the Federal Government is taking Nigerians for granted. It is unfortunate that after a Supreme Court ruling, we are still faced with this situation.
“I won’t go to work again because there is no transport fare. Some taxis don’t accept transfers of N200 or N500. I normally seek to get money from my group within the mosque. I succeeded in getting N2,000 last week, but how long will that take me?”
*Much ado about note collection
Much relating to the cash crisis has been attributed to the impact of the issuance and disbursement of old and new naira notes, especially the N500 and N1,000 denominations, by banks as directed by the nation’s apex bank, the CBN.
Customers have been having a hell of a time securing or using the money, and even a Supreme Court judgement on March 3, 2023, that the old notes should be accepted till the end of the year, has refused to draw the attention of the federal authorities.
The Supreme Court had, in a judgement read by Justice Emmanuel Agim, harping on the rule of law and principles of democratic governance, said that it had become illusory “if the President of the country or any authority or person refuses to obey the orders of courts.”
It added, “The disobedience of orders of courts by the president in a constitutional democracy as ours is a sign of the failure of the constitution and that democratic governance has become a mere pretension and is now replaced by autocracy or dictatorship.
The apex court also argued that President Buhari usurped the powers of the CBN when he issued the directive banning the old naira notes of N1,000, N500, and N200 notes from February 10, 2023.
*The redesign policy
The new policy started on October 26, 2022, following the trajectory started by President Muhammadu Buhari in 1984 when he was a military head of state.
The President was accused of embarking on a similar ‘unpopular voyage’ under the guise of redeeming the economy and fighting vote-buying and corruption.
But critics say the implementation has not been based on sound economic fundamentals, warning that the right thing should be done at the right time, and with proper implementation.
Announcing the new redesign policy, CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, hinged the apex bank’s decision on the powers conferred on it by Section 2 (b) of the CBN Act 2007.
Emefiele argued that currency management by the CBN had been facing several challenges for some time, including significant hoarding of banknotes by members of the public, with statistics showing that over 85 per cent of the currency in circulation were outside the vaults of commercial banks.
*Appeals for intervention
Amid the conflict in implementation occasioning pain on the people, calls have gone to the Federal Government to turn the right ear to calls for the reverse gear.
A concern, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), yesterday called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately intervene to put an end to the hardship caused by the currency redesign policy of the CBN.
In a statement by the director of CPPE, Muda Yusuf, the think-tank argued that the cash scarcity had not only crippled economic activities in the country, “but has now become a major risk to the livelihoods of Nigerians.”
Yusuf, a past president of the Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), explained that millions of citizens have slipped into penury and destitution as a result of the disruptions caused by the currency redesign policy, especially the mopping up of over 70 per cent of cash in the economy.
“Nigerians have not been this traumatised in recent history. The economy is gradually grinding to a halt because of the collapse of payment systems across all platforms.
“Digital platforms are performing sub-optimally because of congestion; physical cash is unavailable because the CBN has sucked away over 70 per cent of cash in the economy and the expected relief from the supreme court judgment has not materialised,” the CPPE said.
Yusuf added that citizens are consequently left in a quandary amid silence from constituted authorities.
Also as a panacea, a state governor, Osun State’s Ademola Adeleke, spoke yesterday, calling on the CBN to order banks to collect old notes.
This, he said, is consequent upon the agitations and complaints by residents of the state over the refusal of money deposit banks to accept old N500 and N1000 notes.
Adeleke also joined other states to fight for the masses on the naira scarcity caused by the new CBN naira policy.
“If banks will not accept old notes as deposits, they must stop issuing old notes for withdrawal. The current pain being inflicted on our people must stop,” the governor said.
