By Augustine Omilo
Nigerians have once again been reminded of the grave consequences of not taking good care of the nation’s currency –the Naira. Speaking recently through its Deputy Governor, Operations Directorate, Dr. Bala Bello, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN warned that if the nation does not act fast, the poor handling of the naira notes will continue to raise the cost of printing and replacement, cause frustration in everyday transactions, and weaken confidence in the country’s legal tender.
The bank highlighted the areas of abuse to include; folding, tearing, spraying at social events, writing on notes, and outright mutilation which undermine the dignity of our national symbol and increase the costs of maintaining it.
There are many reasons why the different nations of the world have their own currencies. They include the fact that they have unique economic situations and want to make monetary decisions based on their specific interests and needs. Another one is the assertion of complete sovereignty of a country. The independent of many nations are often accompanied by the creation of unique currencies as legal tender and national symbols.
Control over a nation’s currency allows her to set monetary policies which in turn allow her to control the circulation of currency in the economy. Through this means, a country can equally intervene effectively in the management of inflation rates, thereby stimulating the economy in times of depression or slow the rate of a bubble, or affect exchange rates with foreign currencies with a view to properly intervening in the price mechanism of goods and services.
As the country’s legal tender, the naira is the recognised currency for economic transactions in Nigeria. But unfortunately, there are folks within the nation whose preferred currency of transactions is either the dollar or any other foreign currency of weightier global relevance. This is a bigger threat to and abuse of the naira than the ones listed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. The continued dollarization of the economy has led to the massive fall in the value of Nigeria’s medium of exchange.
Inflation and the continued devaluation of the naira are largely responsible for the volume of cash circulating in Nigeria. And the higher the volume of money in the hands of Citizens, the higher the tendency to print voluminous bank notes for use. The cost derivable therefrom poses a big challenge to an economy such as Nigeria’s where many people are living below poverty line. This is a simple arithmetic that can hardly be faulted. It is therefore, expedient for CBN to consider rescuing the naira from the clutches of indigenous imperialists with penchant for spending foreign monies in their 65-year- old republic.
Even though the laws of the federation frown at the abuse of the nation’s currency through spraying during social functions, the conduct of the elites do not seem to tally with the same level of concern for the survival of the naira. These are mostly the ones that have the wherewithal to spray volumes of cash at events. Some spray theirs in dollars while others can spray as much as five hundred naira in one thousand naira notes (N500,000) at a single occasion. To worsen matters, some of these spraying activities take place in public schools on Fridays with young school students and pupils watching as if they are in classes to embrace the value system on display.
It is an irony for the nation to be expressing dissatisfaction on the standard of education in Nigeria while at the same time stopping the children from learning every Fridays and some other days in the week due to the hosting of events where wrong signals on the credible ways of life are displayed.
One of the implications of these acts is the exposition of these lads to economic wastes and cosmetic lives of falsehood. It has become common knowledge to find children cut plain sheets of paper to the size of naira notes and throw same at their colleagues in such manners that portray them as fast learners. This amounts to; “catching them young” in the wrong direction.
To ensure a better handling of the nation’s currency, government must begin by boosting the value of the naira while drastically reducing inflation rate with time-tested economic policies. Well-meaning citizens of the country must also join hands to condemn the act of using primary and post primary schools’ premises for wedding, funeral, birthday ceremonies or political rallies during school hours.
These anomalies were alien to the Nigerian educational system when post primary schools were generally known as “grammar schools”, “Colleges” or “high schools”. Therefore, it may be pertinent to revert to the old ways of naming schools with continuous training of their heads and teachers who are often seen as role models to their pupils and students.
School heads that permit their environments to be used by celebrants of any sort should be sanctioned after due warnings and directives from appropriate authorities.
Those who can afford to engage in elaborate celebration of events should also do well to rent halls and event centres dedicated to such activities and specially approved open fields and event centres.
Parents and Teachers’ Associations on their part owe it as a duty to protect the learning interests of the nation’s gullible young lads. They are the leaders of tomorrow. For this and many other reasons, the generational transfer of wrong value systems through extravagance and false life styles through the spraying of monies at events must stop forthwith.
The stoppage of the abuse of the naira must be spear-headed by the influential members of the society.
More so, a serious effort must be undertaken by the Central Bank of Nigeria towards the mopping up of all currencies that are not legal tenders in Nigeria. Naira, the pride of the nation and symbol of the country’s sovereignty must continue to be so promoted.
The same note of warning handed to those given to actions like the spraying of the nation’s currency, squeezing it, writing on it and tearing it must equally be given to those subjecting the naira to unhealthy rivalry between it and the dollar or any other currencies.
Without mincing words, most of the abnormalities experienced through the wrong use and handling of the naira can best be addressed by appropriately inculcating the right civic education on Nigerians. Our learning environments must embrace the kind of serenity that reflects the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s idea of good quality education – knowing everything about something and something about everything.
