Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, a former governor of Kwara State, said that the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) new monetary strategy has the potential to improve the country’s democracy.
Speaking to journalists in Ilorin on Tuesday, Ahmed, a financial expert, said that money should only be used to exchange goods and services rather than to store value. He also noted that Nigeria has more money outside of the banking sector than inside of it.
Money was at the forefront of the nation’s elections, according to the immediate former governor of Kwara State, and it had clouded people’s ability to question those who wish to rule them. He called the CBN’s monetary policy a master stroke.
“In my opinion, it’s a wise policy. In order to regulate and monitor the flow of cash in the system, it will assist the CBN in maintaining control over and ensuring that its monetary policies are effective within the constraints of what is already available in cash.
You’ll all concur with me that, as sharp observers of our current economic condition, we have more cash available outside the banking sector than inside it.
“And what is money? Cash is not intended to be a store of value; rather, it is used to facilitate the exchange of commodities and services. Trouble arises when it starts to serve as a store of value. It indicates that someone is retaining anything that ought to be circulated merely because it is reachable.
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“At this point, the CBN is telling you to return the item to the bank. If you want to hold it, place it with deposit banks that serve as custodians. You withdraw when necessary to exchange products and services.
“Secondly, I think it’s a brilliant move. This is due to the prominence of money in the elections across the country. The implication of that is that it has impaired our ability to critically evaluate people who might like to rule us in the future. Because we are distracted by money taken up front, it has also muddled our ability to question what programs they have for us or assess whether they actually deserve to be elected or not.
“This move in the naira will make it a little more challenging to have money available, as it were, for that reason for the first time. Therefore, the policy is informing us that selecting leaders will no longer be primarily driven by financial considerations. If we can accomplish that, it will be a significant step in the right direction. However, as it takes time to perfect, not everything we want can be obtained overnight. In the 1950s, the US overcame vote box thievery. We’ll eventually get through ours as well. Every policy that moves us closer to it should be supported. We shouldn’t give up. It goes beyond personal preferences. Selflessness is key to advancing our democracy, he remarked.
The former governor criticized the current APC administration in the state under the platform, claiming that he noticed a lot of mismatch between the programs already in place by previous administrations, from which he said people could have benefited.
“I view governance from a gradual viewpoint, where the bulk of state residents gain. Continuity should be considered when looking at governance. I see a lot of disconnect in some of the measures we implemented right now, whereby individuals would have benefited. This gap typically results in the waste of public resources since people-beneficial programs are not carried out to their full potential. Inconsistencies exist between the formulation of programs and the administration of policies, he claimed.
He recommended the APC government to pay attention to programs implemented on the ground and, where necessary, review and change them for the state’s general benefit and to protect taxpayer money.
He also pointed out inconsistencies in the economy, infrastructure, education policy, and health programs, claiming that there was no connection between the old and new programs for better state benefits.
