According to the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), among other factors, the redesign of Naira notes has had a negative impact on the economy and tends to worsen employment in the first quarter.
Last month, the Central Bank of Nigeria issued new N1000, N500, and N200 notes as part of efforts to reduce excess cash in circulation and prevent ransom payments for kidnapping, terrorism financing, and counterfeiting, among other things.
This is as the Center for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has commended the ruling of the Supreme Court on the use of the old currency, the naira, as legal tender.
“Hopefully, President Mohammadu Buhari, the Central Bank Governor, and the Attorney General of the Federation will comply with this court order in the interest of the rule of law, good order, and public interest,” said Dr. Muda Yusuf, CEO of CPPE.
According to MAN, manufacturing employment decisions are difficult due to the unpredictability and difficulty of macroeconomic movement.
“This is the manufacturers’ true opinion. The result is robust and reflects reality: the first quarter of every year is typically slow, and employment decisions are rarely completed during the quarter.”
The association also linked this to the continuous rise in inflation, the high cost of energy, the unabated erosion of the naira’s value, the difficulty in sourcing forex, as well as the harsh effect of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Due to the prevailing currency redesign and fuel crises, including the acute shortage of forex, the manufacturing sector is becoming an endangered profession.
The continued scarcity of the newly redesigned naira notes is quite worrisome, adding that with our growth prospects heading further south, we can ill-afford a downturn in our Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The report also showed that the motorcycle sub-group of the motor vehicle and miscellaneous assembly had been facing domestic difficulty following the ban on motorcycles by various state governments.
MAN report showed that the “high cost of energy, insecurity and the lingering Russian-Ukraine War are also among the factors limiting the sector.”
The report also showed that the motorcycle sub-group of the motor vehicle and miscellaneous assembly had been facing domestic difficulty following the ban on motorcycles by various state governments.
Meanwhile, on the Supreme Court ruling, Dr. Yusuf said, “We welcome the supreme court ruling as it protects the citizens from a policy which is, by all accounts, disruptive, repressive, and draconian. It is also punitive, cruel, and insensitive.”
He said Nigerians deserve an apology from the promoters and proponents of the policy, especially, the arbitrary and uninformed mopping up of cash in the economy, saying, the CBN currency redesign policy inflicted indescribable agony, suffering, and distress on the majority of
Nigerian citizens.
He noted that the trouble was not with the redesign, but the deliberate and unrestrained mopping up of cash in the economy.
