ANPP, CPC Blasts Jonathan, Sanusi Over N5,000 Note

ANPP, CPC Blasts Jonathan, Sanusi Over N5,000 Note

Sat Aug, 25 2012

By Tony Abrahams The All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, and Congress for Progressive Change, CPC. has described as mere hypocrisy, explanations justifying the conversion of lower denominations of the Naira to coins and the proposed N5,000 note. Both parties urged the Federal Government and Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN to rather account for 50k, N1, and N2 coins which has since vanished from use after conversion from note to coins. The two political parties, faulting CBN’s explanations, and premising their arguments on precedence established that coins had never enjoyed patronage by Nigerians, as Naira notes converted to coins subsequently vanished. They further hinted that the present move might be a premeditated move by the Federal Government to subtly embark on cash mop and further economically strangulate the people. The ANPP, waving aside the explanations in justification of the new N5,000 note, argued that the attendant consequence would be a hike in inflation rate and imposition of more sufferings on Nigerians, even as the CPC described it as a systemic process of enhancing “corruption in government circles.” Further examining the economic consequences of the proposal, the ANPP, argued that the introduction would only deepen the widening gulf between the “haves and the have-nots’’ and urged the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to re-order their priorities with a view of streamlining the resources that would be “wasted in this ill-timed into more people-friendly fiscal projects”. ANPP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Emma Eneukwu, states that “Our great party believes this is another clear path to inflation and resultant suffering on the part of the hapless citizens of this great nation. “It is an established fact that the Nigerian populace is averse to the use of coins, and, therefore, the decision by the Federal Government to convert some lower denomination notes to coins smells of a premeditated agenda to further mop up cash from the nation space and whip the Nigerian people in the process, just as it had done through the increase in the pump price of fuel and hike in electricity tariff. In fact, one does not need an economics professor to know that this move will eventually cripple the value of the naira; countries like Japan , Germany and Singapore do not have strong currencies because they printed higher denominations. “Moreover, going cashless has nothing to do with printing N5, 000, but everything to do with introducing valid strategies for redirecting the nation’s commercial transactions into the virtual space. Right now, what the CBN and the Federal Government should be engaged in is establishing a clear and comprehensive electronic fraud management framework, as well as delineating of responsibility among key stakeholders, and advocating enabling laws that will inspire confidence in the country’s e-payment network, both locally and internationally; not to saddle the helpless masses with more burdens.” In a separate statement, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, the CPC’s National Publicity contends that the introduction of the N5000 note “is antithetical to the much-touted cashless economy. “ Recently, we witnessed the allegations and counter-allegations of solicitation for and receipt of bribe money levied against certain highly influential politicians in the country. It is axiomatic to infer that those transactions were opaque to the banking system because of the facilitating ambience of high currency notes. “We insist that the introduction of N5000 currency note shall further exacerbate the corruptive tendencies in the Nigerian polity. “Whilst we agree with the CBN that printing of notes is more expensive than minting coins, it is difficult to believe that the solution lies in converting the N5, N10 and N20 notes to coins. “The cultural values of the Nigerian people do not favour use of coins. The question is: how did we fare with the previous conversion of 50k, N1 and N2 Naira notes to coins? In fact, those currencies tacitly went out of circulation as a result of disuse.”