Nigeria: Getting Better, Or Worse
Every Nigerian, and maybe others that keep up with the happenings and ongoings in this great country, Nigeria will know that weāve been waiting for something for a while now. On the 26th of October 2022, the federal government had announced to us about their intention to redesign the Nigerian currency, but this āredesignā was limited to N200, N500, and N1000 denominations.
I vividly remember what ran through my mind, and Iām sure millions of people in Nigeria. I kept thinking that of all the problems that we were currently facing in the country, all the restructuring, and redesign that abounded in the country to be taken care of, this was what they thought was the utmost priority?š¤
Furthermore, they stated that the new notes will be in circulation from December 15th. And that the new and existing currencies will be in circulation till the 31st of January, 2023 when the existing currencies will cease to be legal tenders. It was a news that left many in shudders.
Be that as it may, we waited patiently for this change that was expected to happen. Today, we woke up to the news that the said denominations had been redesigned and the new notes were ready. We all rushed to see them. What we saw left many Nigerians perplexed. A lot of memes, and ridicules of all forms began almost immediately.
I donāt know about others but when I heard āredesign,ā I kept thinking that the faces on the denominations would change. We expected something completely different. But then again, itās Nigeria.š What we found was the same naira notes but with different, strange, and somewhat colours. Imagine walking around with pink naira notes. Ha! It left much to be desired and this is an understatement. Iām sure we may get used to it in the end. But like the picture of the tweet above. I kept asking myself if our past will keep being greater than our present or even future cause the new naira notes were far from encouraging, to say the very least.
I went on to browse on why exactly this was done and whilst the biggest problem according to them was the significant hoarding of banknotes by the members of the public, and that over eighty percent of currency in circulation was outside the banks, I kept thinking of other things.
Itās no news that the people in power are known for stashing millions and trillions of naira notes in vaults while they occupy a position of power, so that when they leave those positions, they can feed off the stashed money. Hence, I believe that this is a strategy by the government to make those stashed monies worthless. I know not many people would be happy with the redesign of the major denominations of the country but maybe this is a small step to making the country better.
I still donāt believe that they couldnāt come up with a better redesign. And though the mockery, and ridicule of the notes might still abound these few weeks, I just believe, with a very positive mindset that this is for our good. And maybe, we might start getting rid of the rotten eggs one by one. One small step at a time.
Still hoping for a better Nigeria for all of us.š¼
Thank you all for reading.āØ
