Buhari’s nephew fingered in naira redesign controversy
…as Nigerians bemoan shortage of notes at Christmas
BY ORIAKU IJELE
Fresh facts which emerged yesterday have pointed accusing fingers at Tunder Sabiu, a nephew to former President Muhammadu Buhai as the mastermind of the flopped naira redesign project embarked upon by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN during the reign of embattled Godwin Emefiele, who is currently being remanded over alleged financial impropriety.
The exercise had stimulated extreme scarcity of naira notes and hardship for the citizens earlier in the year.
Tunde Sabiu, who wielded a lot of influence, it was gathered, sold the idea to Godwin Emefiele not minding the constitutional breaches the policy portrayed and this was captured by the Jim Obaze, special investigator on CBN and related entities in the report he submitted to the Presidency. According to a source, “Obaze’s report, submitted to President Bola Tinubu, uncovered how Sabiu advised Godwin Emefiele, the former CBN governor, to consider the overhaul. The report detailed that while Emefiele wrote to Buhari seeking approval for the redesign, the former president did not expressly approve the move, only approving the printing of the currency in Nigeria.
“The CBN board learned of the policy 70 days after Emefiele awarded the contract to the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc. The investigation also revealed that De La Rue, a UK company, was outsourced for the redesign at £205,000. Out of the allocated N61.5 billion, N31.79 billion had already been disbursed, raising questions about financial transparency of the exercise.”
In the meantime, Nigerians have expressed sadness over the continued shortage of cash reminiscent of the Godwin Emefiele days, warning that it may have a negative impact on their Christmas celebrations. Some residents of Ibadan, on Friday, decried the hardship they have been facing over cash shortage, saying it may mar their Christmas celebrations.
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The residents lamented the difficulty they had been facing in accessing their money in the banks. An entrepreneur, Mr Niyi Olawuyi, said that the experience had been harrowing, as some banks could not give more than N10,000 to each customer, while others give as low as N5,000.
Olawuyi noted that many people, who were forced to do money transfer for business transactions and trading owing to lack of cash, were also being confronted with network problem.
Another entrepreneur, Mr Wale Adio, said that his bank only gives N5,000 to customers, adding that anybody who wanted to get more would have to go to POS operators.
“Many people who are into business and need to pay their workers are struggling to get funds for their daily operations,” Adio said.
Also, an employer with a private organisation, Mr Sola Famakinwa, described cash shortage, particularly at this festive period, as unfortunate and unpalatable.
“You have to waste your time on the queue to get your money. Some banks have even reduced their daily cash limit from N20,000 to N5,000. This will, no doubt, affect Christmas preparations by so many people.
“The transfer is not helping because of the usual network problem. People are suffering because they cannot access even the little money they have in the bank,” he said.
A civil servant, Mrs Aina Ojo, however, said she could not relate with the cash shortage crisis as she had nothing to queue in the bank to get.
“I’m just expecting the payment of the arrears of the N35,000 wage award promised by the Federal Government to enjoy this festive period. That’s all,” Ojo said.
