Business

Naira Swap Disrupting Economic Activities, Says NACCIMA

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Staff Admin

By Edidiong Ikpoto

The Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture has said that the naira swap exercise has largely disrupted economic activities in the country, causing untold hardship to the citizens.

The Director-General of the association, Olusola Obadimu, while speaking exclusively with The PUNCH, said the Central Bank of Nigeria’s inability to manage the hardships associated with phasing out old naira notes has traumatised Nigerians.

According to Obadimu, the management of the currency exchange exercise could have been done better, as the past few weeks have been quite traumatic for a lot of Nigerian citizens and small businesses particularly, especially in view of the lingering fuel scarcity.

He said, “Throughout yesterday, no single ATM that I visited (both around Ikeja in Lagos and even Abuja) had currency notes, including within the airports. This is not decent enough.”

Obadimu also criticised the position of the apex bank that its new policies would help curb vote buying during the forthcoming general elections.

He added, “How I wish the CBN governor would pay more attention to basic CBN management issues and monetary policy guidelines. The INEC chairman should worry more about electoral matters.

“There are more important CBN-related issues begging for urgent attention – gaping interest rates (between lending and savings), gaping forex rates (between official & parallel), soaring inflation rates, etc. When we are responsible for discharging the elements of our assignment as a public official, we should be careful of losing focus.”

He said the economy should not be shut down because of pending elections.

“Imagine a visitor coming into Nigeria for the first time and, on arrival at the Airport, couldn’t withdraw any money from any ATM in either Lagos or Abuja. What kind of investment-friendly rating would he give us? Are we serious about attracting investments at all? We must be careful lest we lose focus in discharging our duties,” he cautioned.

Source: The Punch

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