Naira redesign badly executed, says YPP presidential candidate

Malik Ado-Ibrahim, presidential candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), says the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is a “great idea” but “badly” executed”.

Ado-Ibrahim spoke on Sunday during an interview on Channels Television.

On Sunday, Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor, announced that President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the extension of the phase-out of the old naira notes to February 10.

On October 26, 2022, Emefiele announced the plan to redesign the biggest denominations of the country’s currency — N200, N500, and N1000.

Emefiele had asked Nigerians to deposit their old notes before January 31, 2023, when they would cease to be legal tender.

The January 31, 2023 deadline sparked controversies as Nigerians could not access new notes.

Speaking on the development, the YPP candidate said the naira redesign policy looks “too political”.

He said the execution of the policy did not give confidence to Nigerians and investors, and that the CBN was “ill-prepared” for the policy.

“It is badly executed — a great idea. Execution is everything. It looks too political and in that, you don’t give confidence to the people,” he said.

“I will harp on the idea of confidence. In a country as big as Nigeria, Nigerians need confidence, even our neighbours need confidence.

“The Nigerian currency on the West African coast is the major currency after the dollar and euro. We are the third.

“All these monies sitting in circulation help us but we are not taking it as part of our strength, it becomes our weakness.

“Now our people are trading in CFA. Nigerian currency has dominated the West African business community for decades.

“It costs money to print money. This is not a free exercise. We did minting and printing. It was so ill-prepared that we did not change anything, just the colour and that is not enough to give confidence.”

Ado-Ibrahim criticised what he described as the non-involvement of Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, in the redesign policy.

He said the policy looks like a “show” between Emefiele and Buhari, noting that the fiscal and monetary policies must align.

“We don’t see the minister of finance. It looks like a one-man deal or trade between him and his boss, the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Where is your minister?” he said.