Are we witnessing CBN-enabled obliteration of the masses?

By Ola Emmanuel

THE man suddenly found himself trekking on the highway on a long-distance journey to his hometown in another state. How he managed to embark on the trip without informing anybody, not even his wife, remained a puzzle to him. Without money in his pocket, safe for a note whose value couldn’t cover the trip, he started thinking about how to get out of the situation he found himself. He would trek some kilometres, then used the note in his pocket to board any available vehicle. He would call his brother to meet with him where the vehicle would drop him so that the brother could take him to the village. Suddenly he became aware of his status. Why would he make this trip to the village without anything on him? Why was he making a trip he didn’t plan? He didn’t know when he left his house, and without informing anybody. No one knew where he was. There was nothing on him to give anybody in the village. Of what use was the trip? But he continued on the journey. On reaching the intersection where the state government-announced road network project was happening, a construction work that the state government announced with fanfare, he found that it was already an abandoned project. The site was desolate, overgrown with weeds, and the beams for the flyover had been removed.

He continued on the journey, trekking on the highway, moved by a force. After some kilometres, he saw ahead of him some individuals boarding a vehicle and he hastened his steps to join them. But he was suddenly confronted by a fellow who was trying to steal something from him. That was the time he became aware that he had his telephone handset on him and the assailant was trying frantically to get the handset. Somehow he managed to defend himself, secure the handset and some series of activities followed in that spot. In the end he didn’t board any vehicle, didn’t call his brother again and never continued on the journey. What could this mean at this time when the non-availability of cash has rendered every city, town, villages and hamlet mournful? I remembered the direction of the discussion that a guest and I had on my radio programme about the CBN’s attitude to the Supreme Court judgment that the old notes should return as legal tender till December 31, 2023. The conclusion of our discussion did not show that the millions of Nigerians suffering due to the shortage of cash would have any respite soon. Without clear-cut instruction from the CBN, can the money deposit banks on their own obey the apex court’s judgement? The doubt remains.

But the suffering caused by the cashless situation is huge. Depositors’ funds are trapped in various banks. Youths and elders alike are daily massing at the entrances of banks for hours unending, wailing and shouting themselves hoarse. More than 10 days since the Supreme Court ruling, I am convinced that the CBN has no cash, new or old, to release to the people. Clearly, the greater percentage of Nigerians, the 135 million that are adjudged to be multi-dimensionally poor (National Multidimensional Poverty Index Report, November 2022), are on their own and practically abandoned. These are people that rely on daily incomes in cash to buy food, buy drugs to take care of their health, take care of their children’s education, and keep their souls and bodies together in a country where their well-being is of little concern to the people that rule over them. They are micro traders who dominate the informal sector, who rely solely on daily sales and payment in cash for services rendered through hard labour before they can eat and feed their family members and other dependants.

Through non-availability of cash to enable them carry out their enterprises, these people are already dropping dead. It was shocking when the news broke Saturday morning of a radio presenter in Ibadan who was said to have embarked on trekking because there was no cash to board a vehicle to the radio station for his early morning programme. He never reached the station; he slumped on the way. It is easy to imagine the condition of this man that led to his finishing life’s journey by collapsing by the roadside. Lack of cash and inability to gain access to what he had in his bank account would have affected the quality of his food intake. Perhaps he had forced himself to adjust the eating pattern of his family to reflect the cashless situation. The Central Bank of Nigeria’s demonetisation policy has destroyed the businesses of several millions of Nigerians. Go to local markets where petty traders hawk their wares and see wastages. Yam sellers, fish sellers, plantain sellers, and others like them have lost their businesses.

These over 135 million are a people who don’t have bank accounts trying to sell to those who don’t have cash to buy. For months now it has been a case of hunger, misery and untimely death among these multi-dimensionally poor people. This pathetic state of genocide is caused by CBN’s inability to understand the state and condition of the people the institution is churning out policies to affect. Mr CBN Governor, your January 2023 monetary policies, like others before, are too deficient and myopic. Now to the market leaders and trade association leaders: this is the time to think out of the box, to help your members who are negatively affected by the current CBN cashless activities. Instead of appearing helpless and disillusioned, you need to get more organised and become more effective in your leadership responsibilities. Unusual situations require unusual approaches. If the policymakers have no place for you in their thinking, you need to invent your own approach to cushion the negative impacts of policies that affect how you do business,

This is not the time to be rigid in approach. If your members rely on cash before they can sell and the buyers have no cash, perhaps you need to consider having a point of sale where buyers can pay for purchases and you have good understanding with your members to have their money. The cashless situation is lending credence to the cooperative economy I have been talking and writing about for years. Individualism is failing, you need to become more organised and collaborative, to seize opportunities and enjoy good business.