Naira redesign and the hidden cash

Naira redesign wahala

The trouble started on a rainy Wednesday afternoon in October. I had earlier repaired a leak on the roof of my money store and had injured my thumb where the hammer had hit me as I nailed a rubber sheet over a hole. News filtered in from online newspapers that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had announced Naira redesign plans. The high denomination naira notes are to be redesigned and introduced with effect from December 15, 2022! My heart is racing even now with thoughts of that day.

Hoarded dollar bills

Godwin Emefiele, the CBN Governor listed a number of reasons for the action, none of which makes sense to me. So, 2.7 trillion of the 3.3 trillion Naira in circulation is outside the banking system. So what? Please, I beg – Is N600 billion not enough for the banking system? What laws says that I cannot keep my monies wherever I like?

Apparently, there are other reasons. The naira redesign strategy may help rein in inflation and limit payments to kidnappers (a scourge that has refused to go away even with NIN). The Nigerian notes will be clean again, which is good. Counterfeit notes can also be detected. I shudder whenever I wonder how much of my N302 million are counterfeited notes. Fakes were not a problem when we spend among ourselves in the community.

A counternarrative?

There may be a ray of hope. The fiscal authority, the Ministry of finance, is not in the loop. The Minister of Finance, Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, knowns nothing about the Naira redesign and hopefully this may throw a spanner or two in the works and scatter everything. This is the one time I hoped the idiom ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’‘ has some substance.

Unfortunately, President Muhammadu Buhari seems to have Emefiele’s back. Why is that so? Well, there is one additional and very important player in this game – Ahmed Halilu, and he hasn’t received deserved press attention. Halilu is the new Director of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC Plc) and was confirmed by the president just this past September. He is also the president’s brother-in-law, and one could assume has the president’s ears. The NSPMC Plc is the Nigerian banknote printer and would oversee the Naira redesign and print. There is a lot there to think about.

Consequences and impact

One immediate consequence of the announcement is the mad rush to Bureau de Change (BDC) offices and the increased pressure on the Naira. Has anyone asked about the costs of the Naira redesign? and what companies stand to gain contracts? Why the rush? What is the urgency? For example, in the aftermath of the death of Queen Elizabeth, the UK will be introducing new notes, and their time frames (over 2 years) are reasonable.

I have a feeling that a sizeable chunk of my money pile might go to waste. It’s an uncomfortable feeling that has kept me up night after night for the past 3 days. I can’t eat. Help me Nigeria.