CBN scrambles to release naira notes amid rationing that cripples business
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Strike threat by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over naira scarcity has sent the Central Bank of Central (CBN) scrambling to release more notes on the backdrop of President Muhammadu Buhari saying Godwin Emefiele is on his own flouting the judgment of the Supreme Court.
The top court ruled on March 3 the CBN must extend till December 31 the deadline to swap old naira notes for new ones.
It took the CBN Governor more than a week to direct banks to dispense the notes, and that came only after Buhari threw him under the bus with clarification he did not tell Emefiele to disobey the court order.
Despite that, banks are now rationing payment to customers, allowing no more than N10,000 withdrawal a day, an amount that does not go far enough for anyone.
The NLC threatened at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday to call out workers to picket CBN offices across the country from next week in protest against naira scarcity.
The Nation reports the CBN moved on Thursday night to end the biting cash scarcity, with plans to flood banks with more old N1,000 and N500 notes.
The newspaper quoted sources as saying the CBN has contacted the headquarters of banks to collect the old notes they returned to the CBN for recirculation.
“Banks have been instructed to collect the old naira notes they deposited in the CBN. Before the end of the week, the country would be awash with naira notes,” the source said.
The old naira notes may be returned to branches of banks today, the source added.
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Workers plan battle against CBN
The NLC directed all its affiliate unions to mobilise for the picketing of CBN offices, including its headquarters in Abuja until more cash is made available.
It asked workers to stay at home to enable them to join in the picketing, per reporting by The Nation.
The naira crisis has worsened gender inequalities and made women poorer, lamented Women Affairs Minister Pauline Tallen.
She said as good as the cashless and naira redesign policy is, the ramifications have seen millions of women being left behind.
She spoke at the 2023 edition of the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) International Women’s Day celebration in Abuja.
The inequality is exacerbated by “the new monetary policy as we go cashless,” she stressed, and a solution must be found to the “growing inequalities which have left women poorer.”
Total protest until further notice
NLC President Joe Ajaero gave the directive on the protest at a press conference after an NLC Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting.
He warned the protest will be “total and till further notice” following the expiration of the one-week ultimatum the NLC gave last week to the CBN to supply more cash.
His words: “Last week at the end of our CWC meeting, we gave a one-week ultimatum for the federal government to address immediately, among other issues, the issue of cash crunch that was caused by the policy.
“As of this morning when the CWC met again to review the situation, we discovered that not much improvement has been made.
“The situation is still almost the same. People are still buying our currency with our currencies. People can no longer access the currency and the government seems to be very adamant about this.
“No moves have been made to reduce the suffering of Nigerians.Consequently, the CWC-in-session resolved to go into the process of actualising the one-week notice.
“From Friday [tomorrow], there will be mobilisation of all state councils through a NEC meeting.
“All unions have already been directed to mobilise all their organs and their branches. By Wednesday next week, all CBN offices nationwide will be picketed.
“All CBN offices, from the CBN headquarters, will be shut till further notice. Workers are directed to stay at home and join in the picketing exercise.
“We call on Nigerians to understand the circumstances we are operating in. People will be telling you about the political situation.
“The political situation is self-inflicted and the economic crisis is worst than the political situation because people cannot eat.
“Workers can no longer go to the office and nothing is happening. So, we have been pushed to the wall having given one week and we thought they could address the situation which is not addressed.
“We have decided to take our destiny into our hands. So, comrades, the mobilisation commences immediately and when we talk of action from Wednesday, it’s total, until further notice.”
