Ex-ANAN president tasks CBN to stabilise economy

By Ige Adekunle

A former President, Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), Dr Samuel Nzekwe, has advised the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to make concerted effort to stabilise the economy.

This, he said, would restore people ‘s confidence into the economy as they complied with Supreme Court ‘judgment on the old Naira notes.

Nzekwe gave the advice while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Ota, Ogun.

NAN recalls that the Supreme Court had on March 3 directed that the N500 and N1000 should remain legal tender until Dec. 31.

The former ANAN president said that it was a must for the apex bank and the Federal Government to obey the Supreme Court judgment as the economy had been adversely affected by the cash crunch.

He stressed the need to stabilise the economy as many Nigerians would be going to the Deposit Money Banks to make withdrawals rather than saving, which is not good for the banks.

“The CBN need to work very hard to restore the confidence of Nigerians which had been eroded by the action of the regulators,” he said.

Nzekwe noted that the apex bank meant well regarding the redesigned notes, but it was in the implementation that they got it wrong.

He alleged that Deposit Money Banks also contributed to the poor implementation of the policy as they give their money to their most preferred customers while leaving the masses to suffer.

Nzekwe lamented that there was no cash in circulation as most of the money transferred were not going and malfunctioning, while most Automatic Tellers Machines (ATMs) were not dispensing.

He emphasised that CBN needed to intensify public enlightenment campaign so that people would not think that the economy has totally collapsed.

Nzekwe said that cash crunch had virtually affected all sectors of the economy, adding that there is the need to pump more money into  circulation.

Nzekwe however noted that one thing that had been achieved through the policy was that more people had embraced the financial inclusion.

(NAN)