The release and circulation of new Naira notes in Nigeria by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as part of measures to check inflation, counterfeiting, and hoarding of the Naira has attracted various reactions.
The apex bank stuck to its gun and sent the redesigned naira notes into circulation on Thursday, inspite of oppositions from some quarters.
The Tide interacted with some bank customers to get their reactions to the introduction of the new notes, with many of them expressing uncertainty about the impact it would have on them in the long run.
Although not many have received the new naira notes, particularly in Port Harcourt, a Zenith Bank customer, Caleb Chigozie, attested to having gotten the new notes due to the special relationship he has with the bank.
“The naira redesign is not the actual issue, but the monetary policy which the Central Bank of Nigeria has decided to propose and impose at the same time.
“Every country has a similar policy to aid the appreciation of its currency, and you will agree with me that the naira has depreciated so much and something needs to be done to revive it”, he said.
Also, a media consultant, Mr Aderemi Lawrence, while interacting with The Tide at the banking hall of one of the United Bank for Africa, said the decision was a waste of time and resources.
”When you are talking about the creation of new notes, there is no significant impact whatsoever on the economy. It is only a mere renewal of new notes. It is only repackaging. It has no economic effect. It is like buying new clothes and discharging the old ones.
”People say it is going to stop people from keeping large sums of money in their homes, but this is not true. They will continue their act once the new notes are fully in circulation,” he said.
Meanwhile, a poultry farmer, Wilson Ainde, who said he banks with Sterling Bank, noted that the rationale behind the new notes was not well conceived and thought out.
According to him, “the whole thing is going to affect the economy. It is like they want to reduce the money in circulation.
“And why did they have to spend such a large amount of money to print money when those who want to keep money would continue to do so after the old ones have been taken out of circulation? So, it is a waste of effort. Whoever is behind it should be questioned”, he stated.
However, Mr Emmanuel Anoro expressed the belief that the decision was the right one to take, considering the depreciation of the naira.
“The changing of new naira notes is okay. It will help to change the contaminated notes and discourage people who are keeping money inside their houses.
“But the other one, the cash withdrawal limit, is what I don’t seem to understand. The reason behind that has not been properly explained. The new naira is okay.
”It seems CBN just told their designers to add more colour to the old ones while also swapping the colours of N500 and N200 for each other,’’ he said.

“However, I think the approach isn’t bad. To some extent, it would control counterfeiting as implied by the CBN Governor and possibly inflation too. It is apparent that we have too much naira in circulation.

“The rate at which we have people hoarding naira is alarming too. Maybe this will also solve a bit of this problem”, he said.

Another bank customer, Mrs Tolulope,, said she does not trust Nigerian politicians.

“The move would help curtail vote buying in cash and all of that, I still do not trust the current breed of politicians because they always find ways to bypass laws and policies”, she stated.

By: Corlins Walter