Stop this hardship, make the naira available, Bishop Hammwa urges FG
We must now be proactive to choose other set of leaders, Fr. Ehusani fires at Nigerians
Most Rev. Charles Hammawa, Bishop of Jalingo has enjoined government to desist from implementing policies that cause undue hardship on the people. Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Catholic Herald Weekly newspaper on Wednesday, the prelate decried the hardship inflicted on Nigerians by government -induced sufferings occasioned by redesigning of the naira policy and petrol scarcity. He said, “Government should implement policies that won’t cause hardship for the people. Leadership is about leading people and making them comfortable, not putting people through hardship. If they are serious to help the poor masses of Nigeria, they should do what they have to do to reach out to the masses as soon as possible to get money to move around to sustain lives and businesses.” Bishop Hammawa lamented the negative impact of the naira redesign on Nigerians as he noted that businesses are suffering owing to the CBN currency management policy lapses. “It is so bad that once again we are facing another round of problems in the country. Instead of solving existing problems, we are adding more and more to it. I understand leadership is not easy, but I am just worried, and more and more worried on whether our leaders really, really monitor the interests of the people in terms of their acts, in terms of the outcomes, the complaints of the people they are supposed to be leading in all these.” The high ranking cleric noted that the leaders are not affected by the naira redesign policy.
“Imagine the issue of the scarcity of the naira notes now; even the old ones cannot be seen, nor the new one. It’s really affecting the people, but it doesn’t seem to be affecting the leaders; I don’t think so. They are not suffering as the majority of the people are suffering. At this time business people yes, some do their transfers, but I would want to think that more than half of the Nigerian people don’t live that way. That’s the reality on ground. If you consider the peasant trader who has to live from what he or she earns in a single day, and they are not able to transfer. So, when they make these policies, good as they might be, sometimes they fail to think or consider first, whether they have laid down the requisite conditions on ground. “So, even though they now have mobile banking transfers, these days, they will tell us that their network is not working. So, when these things are not put in place, if you make policies, no matter how laudable they are, they cause undue hardship to people. I don’t think they line up at the ATM or line up in the bank to receive their money in the same way that the ordinary people do every day. So, how come they don’t have those problems that the rest have. So, this is why I question the fact that they don’t seem to really put into consideration the masses of this country. “And the time limit they gave for that matter was really, really insufficient. In other climes they don’t tend to do that. But here we are having scarcity of fuel. I don’t know. Maybe all people who have to rely on cars should park their cars because it’s too expensive.”
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on October 26, 2022, announced the introduction of redesigned 200, 500 and 1,000 naira notes into the financial system. But since the notes were unveiled, Nigerians across different parts of the country have had a hard time accessing it from banks and ATM points. Last week amid the chaos caused by the scarcity of the new notes, the CBN extended the deadline for the phasing out of the old notes from January 31 to February 10. Despite this extension and few days to the February 10 deadline, the naira redesign policy bit harder as scarcity of both old and new notes disrupted activities in markets, petrol stations, restaurants, banks, and other major outlets across Nigeria. Families ran out of cash and could hardly feed nor pay the rising transport fares. PoS operators raised charges on transactions by 400 per cent. The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered a suspension of the deadline for the swapping of the old to new Naira notes by CBN. The apex court issued an interim injunction restraining the Federal Government from suspending the acceptance of the old Naira notes on Friday, February 10, 2023 deadline. This was consequent upon Kaduna, Zamfara, and Kogi States who had instituted a suit against the Federal Government at the Supreme Court, restraining her from implementing the policy that will see to the termination of the old 200, 500, and 1000 denominations of the Naira as legal tender on February 10.
Speaking in same vein, Rev. Fr. George Ehusani, Executive Director, Lux Terra Leadership Foundation described the negative impact of the currency redesign policy and fuel scarcity as unimaginable, unbelievable and unfortunate. He faulted the rigid timelines relative to the timeframe of the upcoming general elections. Fr. Ehusani said, “There is a lot of confusion all over the place. Nigerians have been put through the most harrowing experiences. How can you be planning for election, you are changing currencies, there is fuel scarcity? Nigerians have been through the most harrowing experiences. It’s unimaginable, it’s unbelievable what our leaders have put us through in the last few years, and it’s getting worse. “The fact is that it is unfortunate. That is the only expression I can use. It is unfortunate. It’s really unfortunate that our country has been battered and beaten to this extent. I saw pictures of Nigerians stripping themselves naked in the bank, fighting at ATM, struggling at long queues, very long queues for fuel. And there is even a threat that petrol sellers are going to suspend selling completely. “So. It’s unbelievable that we are going through this; a country that is so blessed with natural and human resources. I think that the caliber of people that are running our affairs is unfortunate. I just pray that the suffering Nigerians will soon wake up to take their destinies in their own hands, to take their country back from those who are poised, determined to destroy everyone. ”Apart from those who can ‘japa’ (runaway), the rest of Nigerians are dying, are running mad.
What you saw in the bank with people stripping naked, meaning Nigerians are running mad because this is like a war situation. People in Syria and other places that are fighting war may not be suffering like this. I don’t have any other thing than to say that it is most unfortunate, and I am hoping that Nigerians will let this suffering crystalise in electoral behaviour; that they can respond to this by their votes and change the situation in a peaceful, orderly manner. Which democratic election provides. The social commentator admonished Nigerians to change their electoral behaviour and vote in leaders who will enthrone the right leadership and good governance come the general elections, emphasising that they are the vital resources to a quality democratic government. “Nigerians don’t deserve this kind of suffering. But perhaps, we all have been part of this, putting ourselves in this by our electoral behavior either that we have not been voting or those who have been voting this kind of human beings into power. It is now time to change our behaviour so that our leadership can change. They say people get the kind of leadership they deserve. That’s an insult because we don’t deserve this kind of leadership. “However, we must now be proactive to choose another set of people to rule us because this same people who have been running our affairs for decades have demonstrated that they have no clue at all as to how to improve our circumstance.
So, Nigerians should look elsewhere and think of other set of people that can run our affairs. He called on all Nigerians to mobilise themselves to ensure smooth and peaceful elections. “And let every individual be involved in campaigning. Let every individual talk to people in their neighbourhood, in their homes, in their constituencies and in the villages. Let them talk to people. First of all, let them talk to people to make sure that the elections are orderly and peaceful.” Fr. Ehusani stressed further on the need to vote competent leaders, “Talk to the thugs; the political thugs we have in our villages because on top of all these sufferings, God forbid that there should be violence, that anybody should shed blood or lose his life on account of this election. We have suffered too much. No one should take any action that will lead to further suffering. Then, to make sure that the right people are voted in, we all should be involved in talking to people in our villages, our neighbourhoods to do the right thing and vote the right people; people who are different. Even if somebody says, “we thought these were the right people when we voted them, now, they should vote people that may have a different idea of leadership.”
