I am sure that you will be wondering why it seems that I never relent in interrogating the issues concerning the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). While not pretending to be an economist, I believe that, as a Nigerian and a victim of the mismanagement of the apex bank, I have a duty to myself and Nigerians generally to ventilate issues affecting our well-being. The Central Bank of Nigeria, like other apex banks elsewhere, is basically charged with the responsibility of delivering a stable financial system that is capable of enhancing the economy of a country. This is the basic role of a central bank in a country. The whole essence of the function is to facilitate joy and comfort for citizens. When suddenly the activities of the Central Bank of a country become a source of torture and misery to the populace, it automatically becomes a source of concern. This is the rationale behind my continuous intervention in this respect. 
The net effect of the failure of the apex bank can be felt easily in the employment market, with the concomitant impact on the security of the country. The proverbial saying is that the devil finds job for an idle hand. As at my last check of the National Bureau of Statistics website, unemployment in Nigeria is over 33 per cent of the employable population. These jobless youth have ultimately found themselves in one crime or the other. It is, therefore, no news today that kidnapping is flourishing in the country; terrorism, banditry, obtaining by false pretense, robbery of all sorts etc., have become the order of the day. Therefore, without being an expert, I believe that one is able, within the happenings in the country, to appreciate some issues which are having debilitating effect on the economy and, by extension, the populace. It is in this connection that I submit from the onset that most of the activities of the apex Bank by way of policies and programmes, have unleashed agony on the citizens. A few of them are interrogated herein below. To this end, can we in all honesty say that there is financial stability in Nigeria when daily we witness monetary policies summersault? At a point the apex Bank forbade cash deposit in banks, and not quite long, that was lifted with the caveat of cash deposit limit.
At another time, absolute ban was placed on the use of debit and credit cards abroad, and in not too long a distance, a sort of liberation by way of relaxation of the policy was done. I can continue to replicate this but this is a field already covered in an earlier publication of this column New currency notes: ( See my column in the Daily Sun of 26th January 2023 “ What a country! https://www.sunnewsonline.com/new-currency-notes-what-a-country/”). In substantiating this assertion, one would want to start with the latest confusion and woes the apex bank has thrown the country and her people into. In a move described as the redesigning of some of the currency denominations of the country, specifically the 1,000, 500, and 200 naira notes, the apex Bank unleashed terror on the citizens, leading to large scale collapse of businesses and death of several Nigerians.
It will be recalled that a period of three months was given to deposit all the old notes in these denominations while the new notes would then be dispensed with. What then subsequently happened, majority of Nigerians that are law-abiding complied but were subsequently unable to access the new notes. When the Apex Bank realized that the policy had engendered an unrealistic situation, it immediately decreed a draconian policy of withdrawal limit. When that became unrealistic, it was modified. As time goes by, both the old and the new policies proved unworkable as Nigerians were and still are unable to access their funds through cash withdrawal. The interesting aspect of it was that at a point in time, the agitation was around the non-availability of the new notes since the apex Bank claimed that it had destroyed the old notes, but alas, after the apex Court’s judgment ordering the continuous use of the old notes and after the dilly-dally, the old notes started surfacing again.
The coincidence, however, is that since the old notes start appearing, there is a complete cessation of the new notes. The question is whether the Central Bank has vacuumed that again or as I am noticing, is it an object of trade now? Treasury staff of money deposit banks now feed fat on the new notes as there is no monitoring again. The branch of my bank, First City Monument Bank that used to possess and dispense the new notes during the severe crunch period, has now ceased dispensing new notes since the old notes started emerging. Nigerians are curious as to what is happening now. If it is that the apex bank has withdrawn the new notes, we are interested in knowing. In addition, are they printing new notes as the Supreme Court order ends on 31st December, 2023 or they are not? We deserve answers to these enquiries.
Beyond the above, the unavailability of the cash in an economy dominated by cash transactions has sent so many people and businesses to early grave as remarked earlier. The sad news is that between the inception of the policy and till date, nobody has been made to pay the price of the abuse. I am equally unaware of any official of the Central Bank that has resigned out of shame, due to the failure of the policies. The best we have received so far is the recent apology from the bank’s helmsman which is incapable of resurrecting the lost lives and the businesses.
On the part of us the victims, in our usual characteristic passive and lackadaisical nature, we have since moved on without the victims collectively, by way of class action or individually, applying for remedy from the court. In addition, since the new notes are now unavailable, what happens to the budgeted sum for the printing of the notes? As opined, the little quantity that was hitherto in circulation is fast disappearing. It seems the new notes have been withdrawn from circulation since it is the old notes that are being largely dispensed now? Should someone not be culpable for the gambling and misadventure? ME THINK SO. Are Nigerians going to allow the blue murder to just pass by? Just like that? In between the Minting Corporation and the apex Bank, heads ought to be rolling now. Now, beyond this misery Nigerians are being subjected to, I believe it is part of the primary responsibility of a Central Bank to defend the country’s currency. Again, where are we on this? It is another sad tale. The exchange rate of the country’s currency, Naira, rose from 197 in 2015 to 750 as at March 2023 in the parallel market under the watch of the present management of the apex Bank, yet nobody has been reprimanded or sanctioned for this horrendous performance. On this again, I am not aware of any resignation.
This is an attestation to the fact that shame has taken flight from the country? How can a management with this type of disastrous performance and record be grandstanding in the face of this calamity and still remain in office? Today, virtually every sector of the economy groans under this yoke. Airlines are struggling to survive in the face of excruciating difficulty to access forex for spare parts, almost bothering on the safety of air passengers. So many foreign airlines are living under threat of bankruptcy due to the inability to remit their funds through the apex Bank. In fact, the Emirates Airlines has had to leave the country due to this. Patients needing foreign medical attention that is unavailable in the country, just like that of Mr. President, are dying in droves; parents are unable to meet up with payments of their wards and children’s fees in foreign institutions as the queue is endless. Even those seeking BTA cannot access same as it is unavailable, notwithstanding that it is the same apex Bank that has sentenced all of us to the banks’ hands. Most manufacturing companies have shut down due to the non-availability of forex to procure machines and raw materials, with the consequential multiplier effect of endangering our collective security due to the soaring statistics of unemployment.
The list of the forex woes is endless but suffice to cap it here for the purpose of illustration. To worsen the situation, the apex bank came up with the policy that United state cash dollars deposits must be strangulated. And for a long time, banks were not accepting cash deposit until of recent when the window was slightly loosened by the apex Bank allowing possibly ten thousand dollars per month to be so deposited.
The currency that would have been useful in the banks for other commercial transactions were now forced to be kept at home, thus compounding the already bad situation in the country. Concomitant to this was the policy of not allowing the credit or debit cards to be used abroad beyond some ridiculous limits. The apex bank might as well argue that this is the policy of the money deposit banks, but even if this be so, the policy arose from the unreasonable policy of not accepting international settlement of claims by the apex Bank. Again, under the guise of economic sabotage, so many companies’ accounts have over time been frozen by the apex Bank, in most instances for no justifiable reason, which at the end of the day, the court would unfreeze but after successfully crippling the activities of the companies. In majority of the cases, the account would have been frozen before approaching the court. The Bank behaved as an Emperor who is above the law. Now what do you want to say about the inflation in the country? it is already over twenty percent and still rising. So many goods and services are climbing beyond the affordability of an average Nigerian.
Nigerians continue to be impoverished in their fatherland. Come to Anchor Borrowers’ Scheme, just as the apex bank continues to be a meddlesome interloper in the affairs of other ministries and agencies of government, it is the same it has done with the Ministry of Agriculture. Even, if there is any intervention to be made in any sector, I believe it is best done by those who have the skill and competence to manage it. This is not so in the face of all knowing and almighty Central Bank of Nigeria who practically runs a parallel government. In virtually all the interventions done by the apex bank, it has assumed the direct ownership by way of administration of the programmes, for whatever reason best known to the bank. At the end of the day, practically all of them failed the test of delivery. The Anchor Borrowers’ Scheme is an excellent illustration of this failure. The same Central Bank had to cry out at a point that more than 70 percent of the facilities are not being paid back. This is not surprising as the management of the facility does not reveal any form of objectivity and purpose. At the end of the day, the farmers have said that they are unable to pay sums due for some funny and flimsy reasons.
If the scheme had been run by the relevant ministry or agency, I am sure that the ministry would have known how to guide the delivery, disbursement and recovery. The monitoring mechanism already exists there and needs no reinventing. This is the Central Bank that is supposed to bring joy to Nigerians that is inflicting pains on them. Nigerians groan under the harsh and poorly considered policies of the bank. Practically everything is wrong with the financial sector. Any attempt to start cataloguing further might take till eternity. Nigerians need emergency rescue from the onslaught of these destroyers.