Naira Crisis: NSA Backs Govs, Warns Of Security Implications

The National Security Adviser, NSA, Major Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd.) has expressed dissatisfaction with the the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, which has received scathing remarks from not a few Nigerians, and the International community for the hardship it has imposed on the public.

Mungonu who spoke on Thursday while appearing before the House of Representatives adhoc committee on Naira redesign and curency swap said the policy is posing a big security risk to the country.

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund, IMF have advised the federal government to give more time for the demonetisation  of the old banknotes,

For instance, the NSA who was represented by Abubakar Mustapha, a director in his office in charge of Defence said troops performing sensitive assignment in some part of the country have found it difficult to get their salary through digital channels.

He said the policy has serious implication for the upcoming election because “some of our soldiers are deployed in places where they cannot actually access digital means of paying for their daily subsistence.”

He tasked the committee on the need to “articulates better ways of actually addressing these issues.”

The NSA position on the issue is quite different from President Muhammadu Buhari and CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele who have insisted that the naira swap deadline of February 10 subsists.

The federal government would have gone ahead to phase out the old naira notes today if not for the Supreme Court ruling early this week that the N200, N500, and N1000 remain a legal tender for now, after a suit filed before it by three state governors of Zamfara, Kogi and Kaduna.

The apex court ruling has somehow mitigated tension after a slew of protests in some parts of the country over the scarcity of the new naira notes, some policy analysts say.

Recall that Governor Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna State had branded some presidency officials as fifth columnists capitalising on the currency swap to frustrate the emergence of Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress, APC, as president in the February 25 election.

El Rufai made the allegation a few days after Tinubu also alleged that his enemies in Buhari’s govrenment are targeting his presidential ambition using the twin problems of fuel and naira scarcity currenclty facing the county.

The Presidency, however, denied such group exists in the administration.