Obaseki Rejects Naira Revamping
In a nation where security challenges have been on the spate, calls for secession, insurgency, unemployment, farmer/ herders clash, inflation, and the recent flood, which has affected many areas of the country, one would have imagined a government that would yield to the need of the masses. Still, the story is on the contrary.
Last week, the central bank said it would revamp the currency, stressing that it was long overdue.
The move to redesign the naira has been criticised by Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, who claims it is solely political and has no economic justification.
The Governor said this on Wednesday during the inauguration of the Women Campaign Council of the Edo State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the Presidential Campaign Secretariat in Benin City, the state capital of Edo.
“They say we should all bring our naira and give it to them because they want to change it for us. Is that our priority now? How does changing in currency reduce the price of food in the market? They say they want to change our currency, and dollars are going higher daily. We can’t even see dollars again,” the governor added.
“I am an economist, and I can tell you categorically that this policy by the CBN and Federal Government has no basis in economics. There is no reason to do this; this is purely political.”
Obaseki underlined that there is no pressing need to change the currency because there are more critical issues for the nation to focus on.
“The urgency for us is getting food for our citizens to remove starvation and hunger from the land. The urgency is on how to maintain discipline in our monetary policy so that we can manage our foreign exchange rate because we are import-dependent,” the governor noted.
He asserted that if the All Progressives Congress (APC) is elected in the upcoming election, the nation will continue to collapse.
“We can’t allow those managing our country (APC) to continue because if we allow the APC government to continue, the country will fail as the country is already failing,” Obaseki maintained.
“God sees how people are suffering in this country and will not allow them to manage Nigeria again.”
“This 2023 election is about the continued existence of Nigeria. If we don’t change the current leadership, I don’t know what will happen to this country. For us, the PDP we are the real only organic party. We are the only ones prepared for a free and fair election, and our candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is the most experienced,” he stated.
What is your opinion on the government’s decision to redesign the county’s currency?
