Photo credit: Daily Trust.
By Dada Ahmed in Lokoja.
Rich Nigerians who stashed trillions of naira at home and abroad and may loose substantial part of the money in view of the planned redesigning of naira, have been told to use such money to uplift the the material condition of the rural population in the country.
According to Google, the idea behind the planned redesigning of naira
is to take care of the worsening shortage of clean and fit banknotes.
It is also meant to tackle the issue of counterfeiting of Naira notes proved by several reports and to minimise the incidence of terrorism and kidnapping as access to large sums of cash used for ransom will be reduced.
The social media platform recalls that
February 28th 2007, as part of the economic reforms, N50, N20, N10 and N5 banknotes and N1 and 50K coins, were reissued in new designs, while a new denomination of N2 coin was introduced.
According to the federal government,by December 15,2022, the redesigned N200,N500 and N1,000 will be in circulation and the old denomination of that category will cease to be a legal tender in the country after January 31 2023.
Those who spoke with our Correspondent in Lokoja on Saturday at Gadumo in Lokoja commended the federal government for taking such decision, stressing that it would also check corrupt enrichment that has impoverished the poor further in Nigeria.
“The rich in Nigerians, many of who acquired trillions of naira through corrupt enrichment and stashed their looted money in banks or in their houses should really have conscience reexamined by the reality of this policy.
“This is the time for them to retrace their step and show mercy to the poor in the society by utilising such money for the benefit of the poor before the date line.
“Since they cannot change all the money in their possession to the new notes, it becomes important for them to use the money for rural development projects such as reconstructing, opening of more rural roads, provision of potable water, build health centres, hospitals and embark on effective farming programmes.
“This will go along way to reduce poverty, improve rural health facilities and boost food production among the rural populace and check inequitable distribution of wealth in the country,” a retired servant,Mal. Abubakar Mohammed said.
Another resident, Mal. Sani Umar, a business man dealing in textile materials, noted that the rural population in Nigeria had suffered a lot in terms of poverty and other deprivations.
“Rather than leaving billions they will not be able to change for the new notes and let the notes rot away, I advise the rich in this category to utilize such money to embark on an aggressive rural development projects and programmes.
“They should set up small and intermidiate industries in the rural areas as away of laying solid foundation for the take effective off of industrialisation of Nigeria on the long run.
“They could also assist federal, state and local governments, financially, to complete some people-oriented projects and programmes with such money, to let the less privileged in the society feel the essence of governnent.
“To me, the redesigning of naira could be a blessing in.disguise for the emancipation of the poor who have been wallowing in abject poverty,”he said.
