Fakoyejo Olalekan
The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Naira redesign policy led to kidnappers and bandits suspending their activities, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, disclosed.
Ngige said the Naira redesign policy sent kidnappers and bandits on holiday even though the implementation wasn’t smooth.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelPrime Business Africa previously reported that the central bank phased out the old Naira notes of N200, N500 and N1,000, introducing new currencies.
The Naira redesign policy led to the scarcity of Nigeria’s currencies, as the old was not legal and the new banknotes were scarce.
Although both the old and new currencies are now legal following a ruling by the Supreme Court on 3 March, and a proposed strike by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) last week.
Addressing the impact of the policy on Wednesday, 29 March 2023, the labour minister said it was a good policy that got some sound benefits.
“I will admit that the policy is not smooth in its implementation. I admitted that. But whether it is a good policy? Yes, it is a good policy.
“It wasn’t smooth; it came with some pain but overall, did we get some sound benefits from it? Yes, we did: people didn’t buy votes on the queue during the elections.
“I used to go for elections and I know what I see. There was no cash exchange for votes. It wasn’t easy anymore.
“Kidnappers are on break, they are, so to say, on recess. Bandits, they have also gone on holidays,” Ngige said.
Note that on 10 January 2023, the Senior Manager, Currency Operations Department in the CBN, Shamsudeen Imam, also stated that the policy would address the issue of terrorism and kidnapping.
Imam said a lot of money in circulation is fueling kidnapping activities, as people are being kidnapped for ransom, “It will address the issue of terrorism, kidnapping, because there is a lot of money in circulation before, and the kidnappers are using that opportunity to collect ransom from people,” he said.
