CBN's Currency Restructure, 'Agents of Disinfo' and Nigerians

Nigerians all over the social, print and electronic media have been voicing their opinion about the CBN's planned currency restructure, which has been greeted by diverse reactions from experts and laymen alike. This I have further broken down to 'Those who Know', 'The confused' and the 'Downright Clueless!!. Somehow it appears that those against the restructuring and review are more or in the majority, of which in my view they constitute the 'Agents of Disinfo' crew. This may not be entirely untrue, the reason being that they tend to be more vocal. However, 'The Clueless' takes the cake in terms of population/number who need to be thoroughly educated. Now let me expatiate a little more on these groups of individuals

1) The Experts
a) Those Who know: Now this group consists of economists who are truly experts and tell the truth the way it should be and have refused to join the bandwagon just to become more popular.
b) Agents of Disinfo: Now just in case you do not know what ‘disinfo’ means, it is actually an abbreviation from disinformation. This means these people even though they are experts and know the truth they deliberately spread false information in order to enrage, outrage and incite the public. Most of these groups of people are those dislike for the current CBN boss , Sanusi Lamido Sanusi himself!
2) The Confused: Now these ones know a little bit but are not very sure, however a little research could have cleared their confusion, but they are too lazy to indulge in seeking information.
3) The Downright Clueless: Now these groups do not know jack! but they sit and swallow what Agents of ‘disinfo’ sell to them without cross checking the facts, data or information. In their minds a certain ‘professor’ of Economics spoke he/she is an authority and that is it! and sadly since they constitute the majority they make the noise the loudest!
Now back to the point of this piece. The biggest term being bandied about is INFLATION. This term has been abused, misused and confused. Let us even pretend that we do not all know the meaning at least we know basically inflation is not always good for the economy  (it can be positive) which by the way only the CBN has the powers to check, in terms of the positives it allows the CBN adjust the nominal rate thereby encouraging investment in non-monetary capital projects a panacea for recession. However, nations still prefer to have it down to single digit.
But check this out, according to the then CBN governor Dr J.O Sanusi in his Annual Report for 2002, inflation went from 18.9% by December 2001 down to 12.9% by December 2002. This is interesting although a slight deviation from CIA records, somebody please check was this not when the N200 and/or N500 naira were introduced? which were higher denomination than what were in existence at the time. Now see the Table below which was actually culled from CIA World Fact Book on Nigeria’s inflation over 10 years. Note that within these years, in 2005 the N1000 bill was introduced while Chief Chukwuemeka Soludo held sway, from Table 1 below there was a reduction by 3% in 2006! Wow!


Country1999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011
Nigeria12.56.514.914.213.816.513.510.55.411.611.513.910.8

Curiously, another phenomenon that causes inflation is increase in wages!!! wow! ***I’m scared*** who would have thought? Of course not the clueless. Furthermore what is inflation really? A general rise in prices of goods and services, reducing the purchasing power of consumers. In other words too much liquidity (money) in circulation or too much money chasing too few goods. This sounds interesting to me because, as Nigerians (particularly governors) continuously sit on their butts to wait for oil money to share from the center, rather than encourage the real sector which is agriculture, manufacturing, SMEs etc we would continuously have too much money chasing too few goods, whether we print five thousand or five million naira notes or not!
Another argument these ‘disinfo’ merchants put out there is that using coins is not in our culture really? I am from Edo state in my local parlance N200 is called ‘a bag’, once upon a time we used cowries and even traded by barter, so since when did we excise carrying coins off our culture? In fact if I were in CBN’s position I will coin everything from N500 downward and ban the proposed N5000 from the streets! to be used for bigger business trade. Because it does not make sense to me for Nigerians to travel abroad dote and spend coins there, yet refuse to do so in their own country, such disrespect! we must learn to love our Flag, anthem and currency in whatever form.
Lest I forget, the last argument of these ‘disinfo’ crew is that Ghana Must Go bags will be replaced or reduced because it will be easier to just stuff wherever? Seriously? The latest subsidy bribe was done in dollars and I doubt very much if they were in $1 bills although both Otedola and Farouk are yet to show Nigerians in which way the currency was. Trust me with crop of politicians out there they will still be corrupt and will still pilfer us dry even if every of our currency were in coins. Which reminds me, the billions stolen we keep hearing may not necessarily be in cash but in assets like diverting oil crude sales, signing it away with just a N10 pen (biro) and whatever method they choose to use, hardly is it in carrying GMG bags, that is almost a myth!
Now talking seriously, I want to ask where has reviewing upward Nigeria’s currency, given the above table caused inflation in all these? people stop being clueless, seek information and make informed arguments!
By
Asekome Zuwairat
(Green Energy  and Sustainable Businesses Consultant)
http://www.cenbank.org/OUT/PUBLICATIONS/REPORTS/RD/2002/AREPORT-02.PDF

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