Naira Redesign, Currency Swap based on faulty foundation

The Naira Redesign and Swap embarked upon by the Central Bank of Nigeria was based on faulty foundation according to the Chief Investment Officer of Afrinvest in West Africa, Robert Omotunde.

Mr Omotunde made this assertion while speaking on the impact of the Policy which has continued to create a high level of Civil Disobedience and unrest in several States of the Country.

Mr Omotunde who was speaking with Tolulope Ogunjobi on TVC News Nigeria’s Business Nigeria on Monday Afternoon said his firm undertook a Data based research to look at the likely impact of the Policy on announcement.

According to Mr Omotunde, the findings showed that at best the impact of the policy on Monetary Policy will at best be muted.

He said the research is based on the total Money in circulation in relation to the Total Money supplied is just about 3 percent.

He disclosed that the effect of the 3 percent being put out of circulation will not have any impact on Monetary Policy.

He said that the events that have unfolded in the last few weeks has shown that Monetary Policy Consideration is not the main reason the Policy was put in place.

He added that he is speaking to the available data on the issue to reach his conclusion about what the motive behind the Policy is especially at this time.

He said the Central Bank of Nigeria has not handled the matter as well as it should have been handled creating hardship.

He said the fact the announcement was made for 3 months and the money is not still available is due to the fact it was badly handled or it was a deliberate decision by the Central Bank to not print enough currency to put into circulation

He added that the decision has made things difficult for People on the Street.

According to Mr Omotunde, Nigeria which started the journey on the Cashless Policy trail ten years ago has done much better even when compared with much developed Economies of the World.

Going Further he said based on what is available in terms of Data, the Central Bank of Nigeria has not printed enough currency for people who use cash daily for their transaction

He however said the Federal Government is literally forcing Nigerians to look to the alternatives to cash based transaction but added that it should come with incentives especially the elimination of charges to encourage people to embrace it.

He also urged Nigerians not to resort to violence to try to address the situation.

According to Mr Omotunde, the policy will also help in keeping records and trail of how Money moves from one account to the Other.

He said the Rural Communities are the only ones who can be said to be suffering from the negative impact of the Policy.

He said something must surely have gone wrong in the implementation of the policy or its a deliberate decision by the Central Bank of Nigeria to not print enough currency and put into circulation.

On whether Nigeria is ready for the Policy on an Infrastructure point of view, he said the issue should start from getting a clear cut statistics of those who currently use mobile phones in Nigeria and take it from there.

He added that it is now easy and quite cheap to be able to get a mobile phone which is as low as 5000 Naira.

Mr Omotunde said the percentage of Bank and unbaked Nigerians should also have been put into consideration in coming up with the policy since having a phone but no bank account is still financial exclusion.

On the Political angle of trying to prevent Vote buying, he disclosed that this shows clearly that the decision may have been a hurried one without proper planning.