Two problems with naira redesign – Moghalu

Governor, Kingsley Moghalu, has expressed dissatisfaction over the series of crises created by the naira redesign policy of the apex bank.

Moghalu noted that the terrible suffering and economic loss Nigerians experienced as a result of the faulty implementation of the CBN’s naira redesign policy and the entry of the judiciary into central banking functions showed “clearly how our institutions and Nigeria fail when institutions that are meant to be operationally independent become politicised.”

In a statement late Tuesday, he said currency functions were a core part of any central bank’s mandate, and to that extent, he had no problem with the policy except for two vital issues:

“First, the 90-deadline, which I warned was too short to be effectively executed. Second, the timing, so close to the elections. But, as later became clear, there was a haphazard and incoherent communication of the purposes of the policy.

“In one breath, it was said to be to reduce the money supply and help tame inflation (after the Bank had created and lent N23 trillion to the Federal Government, illegally because that was way beyond approved limits under the CBN Act of 2007). Next, it was promoted as a national security measure to halt kidnapping, Naira hoarding and sundry crimes.

“Then, next, it became about “free and fair elections “ to stop vote-buying,” he stated.

Moghalu noted that the last reason became the most important and controversial reason as the tempo of the 2023 presidential contest rose to a boiling point.