Hardship, humiliation, death: Aftermath of CBN’s naira redesign policy

The implementation of Central Bank of Nigeria’s naira redesign policy was suspended on March 13. PAUL OMOROGBE and JUSTICE NWAFOR chronicle the sufferings of Nigerians while the policy was in force.

It was in October 2022 that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, announced that the bank would redesign N200, N500 and N1,000 notes and discontinue the old ones. Little did Nigerians know that the implementation of that policy would precipitate hardship, agony, humiliation, uprising and death on Nigerians. Nigerians did not know that for the first time in their lifetime and in the nation’s history, they would witness the scarcity of their own local currency. Also, little did they know that the use of fintech apps would rise as Nigeria’s banking apps buckled when more people began to use electronic cash transfers.

Emefiele, in October 2022, while announcing the plan to redesign the N200, N500 and N1,000 notes, said the new notes would go into circulation in December while the old notes would cease to be legal tender by January 31.

The apex bank would later backtrack on its January 31 deadline by extending to February 10 the deadline for the old notes to cease to be legal. The extension was supposed to be a reprieve for millions of Nigerians who could not access the new notes. However, there was no respite. Instead, the situation grew worse as there was literally no naira notes to spend. The failure of commercial banks’ apps to successfully complete electronic transfers made business transactions a Herculean task. Point-of-Sale (POS) merchants who charged as high as N1,500 for a N5,000 withdrawal would eventually run out of cash to give. This left Nigerians with no other option but to lay siege to the banks to get cash for their daily needs. There was hardly a facet of human life that was not affected by the cash crunch.

 

Attacks on banks

Banks across Nigeria were attacked by angry protesters, whom some experts have described as not real protesters but miscreants who joined peaceful protesters to attack banks and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).

Banks in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, were attacked on February 3 as a result of demonstrations against cash shortage. Prior to turning violent, protesters had earlier taken to the streets to voice their displeasure over the lack of naira banknotes and fuel.

Before spreading to other areas like Iwo road, Gate bus-stop, and Idi Ape, the unrest began at Agodi gate, at the intersection that leads to the state secretariat and the Government House. The Dugbe and Queen Cinema neighbourhoods of the town witnessed attacks on bank branches.

On February 7, some protesters forced their way into the premises of the First Bank branch in Lafenwa, Ogun State, where they destroyed the Automobile Teller Machines.

On February 15, protesters, who the Police would later describe as criminal elements, attacked and burnt two banks and two vehicles in Udu Local Government Area of Delta State.

A police spokesperson in the state, Bright Edafe, in a Twitter post, said some youths set ablaze two banks and two vehicles in Udu Local Government Area in the state.

The vehicles were set ablaze at a road junction in Udu, according to a report by the News Agency of Nigeria.

Video clips that were trending online at the time showed that the violent protests also spread to Warri, and banks were vandalized.

The same day, there were a number of violent protests in Benin City, Edo State. Ecobank, First Bank, and UBA were among the banks attacked by the rioters, according to Chidi Nwabuzor, the state police spokesperson.

“They entered the banks’ premises, destroyed the ATM machines, the buildings, the window glass, and others,” he said.

In a video clip about the Benin riot that went viral on social media, a bank employee was seen crying out in fear as security agents used tear gas to disperse the rioters who were attempting to enter the bank.

On the same day, some youths in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, blocked a major road leading to the CBN branch and other banks by building bonfires out of discarded tires.

Prior to losing control and blocking the road, the youths had peacefully gathered in large numbers in front of the CBN branch on Udo Udoma Avenue to voice their displeasure over the shortage of the new notes.

On February 17, when protests broke out in Epe axis of Lagos, banks like Zenith, Access and Keystone were attacked; their building windows were broken, and some sections were set on fire. At that time, Benjamin Hundeyin, the public relations officer for the Lagos State Police Command, confirmed the attacks.

According to sources, since the attack, most banks in the area have shut down, and there are hardly any banks open for business in the area as of the time of filing this report.

Three days after the Epe attacks, the Sagamu area of Ogun State was rocked by yet another round of protests over the lack of new naira notes. This time, Union Bank, First Bank, and Keystone Bank branches were heavily targeted by the attackers. Witnesses claim that the bank buildings were burnt down, along with the valuables that were housed inside. The enraged crowd also destroyed ATMs that were connected to the branches.

“They attacked Union Bank and First Bank as well as Keystone Bank. We are there right now,” a witness said in a video that trended at the time.

Abimbola Oyeyemi, the state’s police spokesperson, confirmed the development and promised police intervention, which eventually came too late because the bank branches had been severely attacked.

Three commercial banks in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State, were destroyed by thugs on the same day. First Bank in Churchill and Keystone Bank on Aggrey Road, both located in the old Port Harcourt Township, were among the affected banks.

Angry customers had destroyed the First City Monument Bank at Rumuokoro in the state’s Obio/Akpor Local Government Area the day before.

Both First Bank and Keystone Bank were under siege from the customers, but as the protest erupted, various gangs of hoodlums from the waterfront stormed the banks. Stones were thrown at the Automated Teller Machines and other buildings of the First Bank. The employees fled for their lives as the thugs tore down the bank’s gate and forced their way into the banking hall. They stole laptops, water coolers, computer monitors, and other things from the hallway. The two ATMs at the Keystone Bank location on Aggrey Road were destroyed.

According to experts, both the bank customers and the banks will pay a steep price for these destructions. For instance, attacks on banks may prevent the branches from opening for a while, depriving the local populace and bank clients of banking services. The destruction has a high financial cost for the banks because it will cost a lot of money to repair and restore the attacked branches.

According to Oluwole Olusoji, president of the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance, and Financial Institutions, from the beginning of the attacks until February 16, at least 17 bank branches had been attacked and facilities worth an estimated N5 billion had been lost nationwide.

 

Peaceful protests

Some groups protested peacefully without attacking banks as violent demonstrations swept the nation. For instance, the young people and women who demonstrated on March 11 in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa State, only carried placards. Banks and ATMs were not attacked or destroyed. Following the Supreme Court’s decision extending the validity of the Naira notes till December 31, 2023, residents of Akenfa Community in the Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State had protested against the rejection of the old N500 and N1000 notes a day earlier. There was no reported property damage, and it was peaceful.

On February 15, residents of Ondo State’s Akure, Ondo Town, Ore, and Owo all demonstrated against the policy. No property was lost, and people were largely peaceful. Residents in Mowe, Ogun State, also demonstrated against the rule. Despite blocking a portion of the busy Lagos-Ibadan road for about an hour, the protest was reportedly largely peaceful and no attacks or losses of life or property were reported.

 

Dramas and deaths

In various banking halls across the nation, while some people protested, others provided comic relief, some of which eventually turned violent. On February 2, a video of a woman stripping half naked in a bank and demanding the return of her withheld money went viral online. She claimed that the incident had kept her children out of school.

“Close my account. I don’t want to use it again. Return my money. My children didn’t go to school yesterday; they didn’t go today,” she said in Yoruba.

Beyond the drama, people died in the process of asking for their money. Numerous incidents of people passing out while in queue to get their money or waiting in banking halls or outside banks have been reported. Additionally, lives were lost during protests.

For instance, three people were killed during the infamous Benin City protests when security personnel allegedly fired shots to disperse the demonstrators. Two of the victims are alleged to have died at the Sokponba road axis during an attempt by the protesters to attack nearby banks, while one of the victims was reportedly killed close to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) office.

Relatedly, one person was killed at the Apata axis Ibadan protests during a confrontation between security personnel and alleged hoodlums.

On the 11th of March, Baba Bintin, a presenter for the Ibadan-based private radio station, Fresh FM Nigeria, passed away after collapsing on his way to the radio station for his show. Reports say he was trying to look for a Point Of Sale agent to get some cash when he slumped.

Baba Bintin’s death was announced during a radio programme by the station.

A few weeks prior to Baba Bintin’s demise, Johnson Adesola, a worker at the Lagos State University (LASU), collapsed and died while he was in queue at a bank on the main campus of the institution in Ojo.

Identified as an official of the university’s bursary department, he left his office for a branch of Wema Bank within the school premises to withdraw cash. A few minutes after he joined a queue at the bank, he was said to have slumped and was thereafter taken to the university’s health centre where he was confirmed dead.

The lack of new naira notes in banks caused the death of a heavily pregnant woman in the first week of February in Kasuwan Magani, Kajuru LGA, in Kaduna. Her husband was unable to make the necessary hospital deposit because he could not access cash over the bank’s counter.

The deceased’s husband, James Auta, claimed that the hospital turned down his wife because he was unable to make the payment due to a shortage of naira notes. He was unable to withdraw the money, so they both made the decision to return home while praying for a safe delivery. Unfortunately, their situation took a turn for the worse, which eventually led to her death.

On February 17, it was reported that a Kano State-based man, identified as Malam Bello Baffa, narrated amid tears how his pregnant wife died at the Abdullahi Wase Specialist Hospital in Kano, the state capital, after the hospital allegedly refused to accept the old naira notes he brought.

After the hospital refused to accept payment in the form of old Naira notes, Baffa claimed that his wife’s death was caused by a delay in the transfer made to the hospital’s bank account.

 

Harrowing experiences

The experiences of Nigerians during the period of the cash crunch all have the common themes of suffering and loss.

A number of individuals spoke to Nigerian Tribune about what they passed through due to naira scarcity.

A single lady, Nkem Friday, resides in the upscale area Agodi Secretariat area of Ibadan. She spoke of a day when she left her house before 6am to get to her bank at Bodija. For those who know, being out on the streets of Ibadan before 6’o clock is “very early.”

She said, “When I got to Ecobank at Bodija a few minutes past 6am, I was given a tally with number 91 on it.

“I was surprised that I was not on the first 10 or 20 list. I asked who was the first to arrive. It was a man sitting at the corner nearby. I then asked him what time he got to the bank; he told me he arrived at 4am!

“Interestingly, on my way to my bank, I met people at other bank branches with mats and pillows sleeping outside the bank premises. They probably had cut short their sleep in order to be first in the queue to enter the bank.”

Miss Friday said that at the end, she was able to withdraw N5,000, the maximum amount the bank had set in a bid to ration the available cash in the ATMs.

Adewale Akande identifies himself as a printer. To make ends meet, he does painting, takes passport photographs and also produces iceblocks. Despite having these sources of income, he lamented how they went down since the new naira note policy came into effect. “All my businesses have gone down this year compared to last year. The CBN policy is what caused this. I have been surviving by the grace of God.”

He said that although he collects bank transfers, many of his customers who promised to pay cash ended up owing him.

Akande was hopeful that his businesses would witness good times again now that the CBN has okayed the use of the old naira notes until December 31. “I have not been able to access the old notes today. But I hope that my businesses will improve now that the old notes have been approved for use.”

Also speaking about the effect the CBN’s new naira notes policy had on his business, Adegoke Adegbenro, an electrician, said that “This policy brought so much hardship on me. People don’t give me cash. They do transfer. When I do a job of N5,000, the customer sends just N5,000. But when I want to collect the cash from the POS people, I have to pay N1,500 to N2,000 to get N5,000. That means I am running at a loss. My business has not just slowed down, it is asleep! When I want to buy foodstuffs, those selling demand for cash. How do I get it?”

He said that he was happy to hear that the CBN had approved the use of old naira notes and expressed hope that the situation would ease quickly.

When Nigerian Tribune met Monsurat Oyedeji, a hairdresser, she said her children had not eaten before going to school that morning due to the cash crunch.

She also lamented how bank transfers were not helping her business at all. “I used to refuse payment by transfer. When I started to collect transfers, many were not entering my account. When it enters, I have to pay charges to cash it. Sometimes, I make transfers and my account will be debited. But they won’t credit the person I am sending it to. We can’t buy food without cash. So many have died because of this. My work as a hairdresser is no longer productive.”

 

End of an impasse?

The CBN, had, in a statement on Monday night, said, “in compliance with the established tradition of obedience to court orders and sustenance of the rule of law principle that characterised the government of President Muhammadu Buhari and, by extension, the operation of CBN, as regulator, Deposit Money Banks operating in Nigeria have been directed to comply with the Supreme Court ruling of March 3, 2023.

The CBN directive to banks came hours after the Presidency on Monday evening said the CBN had no reason not to comply with the ruling of the Supreme Court on the naira redesign policy.

It stated that the president did not instruct the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, to disobey “any court orders involving the government and other parties.”

On March 3, the Supreme Court extended the validity of the N200, N500, and N1,000 notes till December 31, 2023. It is hoped that with Monday’s directive from CBN, and the ongoing implementation by banks, Nigerians will begin to have a semblance of normal life as cash becomes readily accessible.