One of the most trending topics right now in Nigeria is the redesigning of the Nigerian currency (Naira). On WhatsApp statuses and lots of Facebook posts are talking about it, The street off Twitter is not left out and most are criticizing the new look of the Naira among other things. Well, I won't even call it a redesign actually but repainting, lol as only the color of the old notes was changed.
The new notes might not come out as most people had expected yes, but let's look at what we stand to gain as a nation by this Government policy.
The strength of the Naira
The Naira has been showing signs of strength since the announcement of the redesign. It was standing around 860 to one dollar and is currently trading around 772 to one dollar. This is a good thing for us and everyone will eventually feel the positive effect on the price of goods and services. My concern is that will this be in the long run? I hope so.
Cubbing insecurity
Taking the old notes out of circulation and replacing them with new ones will cub the activities of kidnappers at least for the time being. Will this be effective in the long run? Only time will tell. Which I hope it does.
Control votes buying
Nigeria's general election is coming up starting in February next year and with little time given for people to deposit the old notes into their bank accounts, it will be a bit hard for politicians hoarding naira notes at home to deposits into their accounts in other to beat the deadline, as depositing a large amount of money will raise the attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
Some Crook politicians will always find a way but at least not all of them will be successful.
I hope that the cashless policy will be more effective this time around so that starting next year in February the effect of the current fall in the Naira will begin to reduce drastically and begins to strengthen.
In concussion; I'm not a big fan of the current Nigeria CBN Governor but I'm fully in support of this particular policy, the redesign or repainting as I will like to call it does not in any way look attractive compared to the old notes but I'm pretty sure we will get used to it very much soon and move on from the current feelings. I like the fact that, the announcement of the redesign and the action takes place all of a sudden as people hoarding the Naira to be use illegally during the coming election are seems to be caught unaware.
Nigeria is still a struggling country in terms of economy and I do hope that the Government gets this particular policy right this time. We are struggling enough already and additional bad policies will just add to the suffering.
There you have it for today, from me. Thank you very much for following me on hive and supporting my journey.
