Fuel New Naira Note & Scarcity

Two major national issues affecting Nigerians at the moment - scarcity of fuel and the new Naira notes. In Abuja, the federal capital territory of the country, it was learnt that fuel scarcity had begun since early 2022 but became more problematic in December 2022, cutting across all States in the country.

Ahead of the presidential and States elections coming in the country, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC disclosed the present fuel scarcity might affect logistic plans of the commission for the February 25 and March 11 polls. The Chairman of the Commission, Mahmood Yakubu, said this during a consultative meeting with the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners NARTO, the National Union of Road Transport Workers NURTW, and other transport unions existing in the country. He said, “The commission shares your concern about the fuel situation in the country and its impact on transportation on election day. “The truth is that our arrangement may be negatively affected by the nonavailability of products. “For this reason, the commission will this afternoon meet the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to look into ways to ameliorate this situation.”

He further disclosed that inter-state trips won’t be permitted, saying all INEC and adhoc staffers must not be moved beyond their local government areas. The commission also noted it would be mobilizing close to 100,000 vehicles and 4,000 boats for the deployment of personnel and materials to 176,846 polling units spread across 8,809 Registration Areas and electoral wards in 774 Local Government Areas across the country.

As part of ensuring seamless availability of fuel, INEC has requested the use of Nigeria National Petroleum Commission land and floating mega stations nationwide to service election duty vehicles and boats. “The use of the NNPC land and floating mega stations nationwide to service our election duty vehicles and boats. We will bear the cost of the products. By doing so, there will be guaranteed supply for elections; “A special arrangement with other marketers in locations where the NNPC may not have dedicated stations; and consider other options to support our seamless operations on Election Day,” Yakubu said.

Following the fuel scarcity and hike in the product, protesters barricaded roads in Benin City, Edo State of the country on Monday, 29th of January, 2023. The official price of the product was N165 per litre before recent reports accused the government of quietly increasing it to N185 per litre. Due to the scarcity of the product and the rising demand, many fuel stations have been selling for between N340 and N400 per litre. In 2022, the Independent Petroleum Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) attributed the fuel scarcity to the unavailability of petroleum products and difficulty in accessing foreign exchange by marketers.

On October 26th, 2022 the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed re-designation of the Naira notes by December 15th, 2022. Emefiele said the step taken would help to curb counterfeit notes, hamper ransom payment to terrorists and kidnappers, help lessen the rate of inflation and control the amount of money in circulation.

In the disclosure, the apex bank governor said the affected notes would cease to be legal tender by January 31, 2023. Due to inaccessibility of the new notes, CBN extended the deadline till February 10

“Based on the foregoing, we have sought and obtained Mr President’s approval for the following: a 10-day extension of the deadline from January 31, 2023, to February 10, 2023 to allow for collection of more old notes legitimately held by Nigerians and achieve more success in cash swap in our rural communities after which all old notes outside the CBN loses their Legal Tender Status.

“A seven-day grace period, beginning from February 10 to February 17, 2023, in compliance with Sections 20(3) and 22 of the CBN Act, allowing Nigerians to deposit their old notes at the CBN after the February deadline when the old currency would have lost its Legal Tender status,” Emefiele while announcing the extension in a statement said.

Despite the extension, Nigerians still find it difficult to access the fund as point of sales, POS do not open and banks automated teller machines are not dispensing cash.

The CBN governor has said banks are to blame for the scarcity of new naira notes.

He said some of them have not complied with a directive to only load the new notes on Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs).

Emefiele said instead, the banks have been handing out bundles to individuals who spray them at parties.

Earlier, the Senate had invited Emefiele but he shun the invitation to explain reasons behind the Naira scarcity.

However, apologizing for his inability to honour previous invitations, he said the CBN met many times with the banks and provided them with guidance notes on the collection and processing of old notes and the distribution of new ones.

He said: “These include specific directives to the banks to load the new notes into the ATM nationwide to ensure equitable and transparent mechanisms for the distribution of the new notes to all Nigerians.

“We wanted to be sure that as the currency is issued; the banks must go through a process that is equitable and transparent, not treating some customers as a priority and some as less important.

“They were told to load this currency into the ATM. The ATM is a robot. People can only collect a maximum of N20, 000 or N40, 000, whether they are priority or not priority customers.

“I addressed the bankers on Sunday and I expressed to them my disappointment and in fact, the disappointment of the President and that of leaders with the way this has gone.

“Many of us have unfortunately seen the new naira, instead of being used for the purpose it’s meant, is used in parties, in celebrations.

“Some said, maybe, it’s money from the ATM and I said no, money from the ATMs is already broken. They (the ones spread at parties) are in leaflets.

“What we saw being stamped on people at parties were packages of the new naira notes, which means they (banks) had breached certain aspects of the guidance note we gave to them.”

African Peace Magazine observed businesses have not only been affected by this but also spurge in the increase of transport, purchase of goods and services rendered by individuals in various sectors.

It is however important the government steps in at this point and to quench the hardship faced both in the fuel and scarcity of new notes.

This may possibly affect the turnout of the upcoming elections and spurge the inflation rate in the country.