CURRENCY REDESIGN CRISIS : THE NEED FOR QUICK INTERVENTION BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO AVERT ANARCHY . BY BESIRU ENAKHIMION .

To reform a policy means to make changes on the already existing one, to modify it , make the necessary corrections, improve upon it and make it better and more beneficial to those for whose sake it (reform) had been made .

If a policy has not been beneficial to the people , it is expected that with the reform in the sector , the narrative will change for the better .

However, in a situation where a reform causes hardship on the people for whose sake it was carried out, such move (reform) should be jettisoned . It should be reversed , except it was not originally meant for the good of the people .

 All over the world, the duty of the government is to churn out policies that are people oriented. Who are the people in question? Those that are being governed by the government .

However, in a situation where a reform carried out by the government turns out to be injurious and painful to the people who were supposed to benefit from it (reform )the right thing to do is for the government to rescind its  decision and reverse the policy that has become anti people .

The Federal government of Nigeria recently  redesigned some denominations of the country's currency . It is a reform or policy that the government has boasted  will be beneficial to the country's economy and Nigerians in general . However, the policy has caused an unprecedented level of hardship to Nigerians . 

The sufferings of Nigerians occasioned by the policy are akin to those faced by people in a civil war situation . 

Virtually all Nigerians have become frustrated by the negative consequence of the  policy that was initially expected to be a blessing to the people .

90% of the banks in the country have their Automated Teller Machines shut . The few ones that are operating are visited by long queues daily . POS operators lack funds to bail out their customers . The sellers and buyers of goods and services are in dilemma . In fact , the country's economy seems to have been halted .

 Unfortunately this is happening at a time Nigerians are already faced with the scarcity of petrol . While the scarcity of petrol has already resulted in the increase in prices of goods and services, the scarcity of Naira has become a case of adding salt to an injury . Just like physically strangulating a man that was already sick.

On Thursday, the 2nd of February, 2023, the frustration of being on the queue for hours at the ATM stand of a bank  resulted to a fight between some soldiers and students at the University of Benin Campus . Have soldiers and students not been involved in bank  transactions within the campus in the past ? Yes. The frustration caused by the CBN's monetary policy was responsible for the misunderstanding between them .

There was also a report of a man who slumped and died while standing in a queue at a bank in Delta state . The man was said to have spent hours in the queue, unattended to, before he slumped and died . He was not killed for being involved in an armed robbery operation, he died while waiting to receive his hard earned money from his bank account . Sad indeed. 

How about the video of a woman who went half naked within a bank premises to protest her inability to receive her money from the bank ?The woman in a viral video demanded for the closure of her bank account and her money given to her . 

 In another video that went viral, a man in his sixties went completely naked in the banking hall of another bank to demand for his money too . 

It was also reported in the media that a group of people were protesting the scarcity of Naira in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital , just as some  reports have it that some banks were being attacked by protesters .

The most painful story I heard in a commercial bus in Benin city on Friday , the 3rd of February, 2023 is that of a man who lost his wife due to his inability to raise the money demanded by a hospital for his wife's treatment . The widower had enough money in his bank account that would have settled the amount charged by the hospital but he could not access the money from the bank . While he went looking for the money from POS operators and friends, the woman died . She died before he could return with part of the money . Very sad . 

While anxiously waiting to receive succour from the federal government , it was reported in the media that Mr. President has sought seven days to decide on the crisis occasioned by the currency redesign policy . Seven whole days ?

This is not to question Mr. President's authority . No . It is not to question your authority sir ?. The question is, if Nigerians are allowed to continue with this suffering for the next seven days, are we sure of peace ? A hungry man can be an angry man, any time .  This writer prays that there will be peace all over the country . His prayer is that the enemies of this sweet country will not capitalize on the seeming war situation to drag Nigeria into a state of anarchy .

There is no part of the country where good stories have been told concerning this policy so far . The stories have been negative in all the states . 

From complaints and negative media reports, it is very glaring that this policy  has inflicted more pains on Nigerians than blessings .  It has been negative reports all over the country .The right thing to do now, is to reverse the entire policy or improve on the  implementation .  Any move that will eliminate or drastically  reduce the pains Nigerians are going through should be made  . Such governmental intervention should be carried out quickly too .