Says new policies come with unintended consequences

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Appraises Supreme Court order

By Providence Ayanfeoluwa

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN, has called on Nigerians to maintain calm, understanding, and resilience as Naira banknote scarcity bites harder.

In a statement made available to Financial Vanguard, the Institute added that the present circumstance should not be perceived as ‘‘a premeditated attempt to inflict undue pains on the masses, because new policies sometimes have unintended consequences’’.

The statement signed by President of ICAN, Mallam Tijjani Isa, said that the institute shares the pains of all Nigerians whose lives and livelihood are being disrupted daily due to the paucity of new Naira notes arising from the recent Naira redesign policy of the CBN.

Isa stated: “Unfortunately, the glaring effects of the policy on businesses and other financial transactions have further been compounded by the challenges in fuel supply across the nation.

“We assure the public of ICAN’s steadfastness in engaging the government and other key stakeholders to promptly resolve the crisis. In the meantime, we passionately appeal to the public to consider the present situation a passing phase in our journey towards national prosperity. We urge for calm, understanding, and the resilience that have characterized us as a people. New policies sometimes have unintended consequences; and so, the present circumstance should not be perceived as a premeditated attempt to inflict undue pains on the masses.

“As the CBN and other key stakeholders continue to make commendable efforts to address the present challenges, we urge the apex Bank to continuously reassess its strategies and expedite actions towards making the new currency notes readily available to the public.

“The current cash-in-hand challenge has revealed the weaknesses in our alternative financial payment solutions. Accordingly, we encourage the deposit money banks, telecommunication and fintech companies to ramp up investments in their systems and processes towards improving the quality of their services in the Nigerian economy in the shortest possible time.

“ICAN acknowledges the recent interim injunction of the Supreme Court restraining the Federal Government and the CBN from enforcing the deadline of 10 February 2023 for withdrawal of the old Naira notes.

“We urge the CBN and other key stakeholders to see the injunction as an opportunity to rapidly improve the supply and distribution of the new Naira notes (alongside the old notes), stabilize the alternative financial payment solutions and expand public awareness on the indisputable benefits of a cashless economy’’.