Protest Rocks Ondo over naira, fuel Scarcity

Hundreds of residents of Ondo State have staged a peaceful protest along Ore-Benin expressway to register their displeasure over scarcity of naira notes and fuel ravaging the nation.

The protesters blocked the road there by causing gridlock .

The protest is coming despite stern warning from the police authorities in the State

Many travellers plying the route were stranded for several hours.

One of the protesters, Adebayo Adeyemi said the recent hardship ravaging the country is quite alarming.

“We are protesting to send a message to the government, that we the masses are suffering”.

CBN Did not print enough Money, must do better -JH

Journalists and Guests on the Journalists Hangout on TVC News have backed the decision of the House of Representatives to reconvene from recess if the current Naira Notes Scarcity persists.

Babajide Kolade-Otitoju who led the discussion said the decision by the House as announced by the Speaker of the House of Representatives on Sunday, Femi Gbajabiamila, is a patriotic one that must be supported by all Nigerians.

He added that the decision is a good one adding that the fact the Central Bank of Nigeria is independent does not make its activities above the nations’ law, rules and regulations.

He said the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria has failed to address the issues arising from the decision and is now in shifting of blame mode.

Anchor Ayodele Ozugbakun added that the picture being painted to President Muhammadu Buhari is that of a business as usual mode across Nigeria making it difficult for him to do what is necessary before the situation degenerated to what it is now.

Kolade-Otitoju said the information that banks are hoarding the notes may not be totally true.

He said if the Central Bank of Nigeria has printed enough New Naira notes it will not as scarce as it is wondering what will be the fate of people who live in remote communities where accessing Banking Services will take at least two hours.

He added that some of the farmers are not even able to come out of their communites with Money for fear of being robbed on the way to banks which are in some instances over a 100 Kilometres away.

For his part, Gani Kayode-Balogun said the current situation has been a boom for PoS Operators who have resorted to outrageous charges for people to have access to the new notes or even bank their old notes.

He also added that the operators also go through the stress that the regular bank customers have faced in accessing the new notes.

CAPITAL MARKET EXPERT CHARGES CBN ON EFFICIENT CIRCULATION OF NEW NAIRA NOTES

Professor Uche Uwaleke, a Capital Market expert and President of the Capital Markets Academics of Nigeria has advised the Central Bank of Nigeria to do more to ensure the proper and efficient distribution of the new Naira notes.

Professor Uwalaeke gave this advise while featuring on the Business Nigeria Programme on TVC News on Monday afternoon with Tolulope Ogunjobi.

Professor Uwaleke said the implementation of the Cashless Policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria has led much bitterness and created unhealthy situations across the Country with Fuel Queues now joined by queues across banking halls and Automated Teller Machines Points and POS Machines.

He added that the Central Bank of Nigeria has to do more in terms of Logistics of the distribution of the new notes across the Country and prevent hoarding.

He disclosed that having assured Nigerians that it has printed enough notes to go round the Country, the Central Bank Should also involve the Security Agencies to ensure that those hoarding the new notes are brought to book.

Professor Uwaleke added that the Central Bank of Nigeria needs to take charge and be on top of the situation and ensure that new notes get to all Nigerians.

He expressed his belief that once this is done effectively across the Country, the pressure will gradually ease over the next few days and will ease the tension in the Country.

He also commended the decision to allow the withdrawal of money over the counter by the Central Bank of Nigeria which is currently pegged at twenty Thousand Naira a limit he said is rather too low.

He urged the bank to raise the withdrawal limit from the current twenty Thousand Naira.

He called on Political leaders across the Country to stop making inflammatory statements about the Cashless Policy describing them as unhelpful.

He said their support is critical to the success of the Policy while all Statements against it makes it more complicated to be implemented.

He also condemned the decision by 3 Northern States to drag the Federal Government to court over the Cashless Policy adding that it makes it a little bit more challenging to use the Policy as silver bullet to address some issues.

He said the Cashless Policy despite the teething problems associated with it has a lot of merits and should be sustained.

He described the huge amount of money outside of the formal Sector that are not productive and lying idle will be brought back into the Financial System through the policy making it easier for the Central Bank to implement Monetary Policies.

Going Further, Professor Uwaleke said the Policy will also help in aiding the move towards Financial inclusion in Nigeria.

He said since the Policy was announced, the nation’s Economy has witnessed a surge in Electronic payments with many Businesses also attesting to how easy it has been for them to operate with the increased level of E-payment options that have been adopted by Nigerians.

According to him all the Central Bank of Nigeria needs to do is to fine tune the Policy and ensure the efficient circulation of the new notes to all parts of the Country.