As the naira scarcity continues to bite harder among Nigerians, one major factor has been the loophole in the communication between the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and citizens.
Development Diaries reports that human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, in a recent letter to CBN, asked the apex bank to disclose the amount of redesigned naira notes it has printed and supplied to commercial banks.
The lawyer sought the information in response to CBN’s claim that politicians were mopping up the new naira notes.
The apex bank also accused some commercial banks of hoarding the new notes instead of disbursing them to Nigerians.
However, the CBN has not provided Nigerians with information on who these rogue politicians are, nor has it communicated the defaulting banks and how it has sanctioned them.
In fact, the CBN has also not provided Nigerians with detailed information on how much it printed and disbursed to commercial banks.
Many Nigerians have been thrown into confusion at various times since the implementation of the monetary policy began.
An instance was when the Supreme Court ordered the CBN not to end the use of old naira notes on 10 February.
It was expected that the apex bank would officially communicate to Nigerians on the next step to take after this directive, but the CBN went mute.
The lack of proper communication between the apex bank and citizens has also left many Nigerians frustrated and led to some resorting to violence as a way of venting their frustrations.
Sections one and two of the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) 2011 state that citizens have the right to access information from government agencies, parastatals, federal civil service, private and public sector organisations providing public services, and so on.
Section four of the Act also provides that a public institution must make available to the public information regarding its operations and duties.
The CBN should note that an effective communication strategy is a prerequisite for any central bank to be successful in the attainment of its policy objectives.
The implementation of this monetary policy has no doubt been faulty; this is why the need for communication at every instance cannot be overemphasised.
Development Diaries, therefore, joins Falana in asking the CBN to provide information on the amount of redesigned notes it has printed, and disclose detailed information on the politicians who have ‘hijacked’ and mopped up the new naira notes.
As stipulated by the FOI Act, the CBN is expected to respond to the request within seven days.
Photo source: Presidency Nigeria
