Nigerians have been following every move of Godwin “Meffy” Emefiele ever since he announced plans to redesign the naira. In that time, the naira has wobbled, rebounded and wobbled again. While the currency was still finding its feet, the central bank governor sent a memo to banks to impose restrictions on cash withdrawals next year. We spoke to an expert about that and you can read more on it here.
What’s clear about the cash withdrawal policy is it’ll affect everyone to varying degrees. But some people will feel the heat a bit more than others. Let’s run through a list of them.
Artisans
Artisans like mechanics, welders, and technicians who rely heavily on cash for daily operations will feel the bite of the policy. Petty traders too aren’t left out from the abara Meffy’s policy will land on their backs.
POS operators
In one policy move, Meffy has poured sand in the garri of point of sale (POS) operators. The profit margins they’d ordinarily make from high volume transactions may be about to crash. And you know what that means? More poverty.
Corrupt police officers
Nigerian police officers are notorious for forcing people to withdraw heavy sums of money from ATMs. The good news is, the new policy will, at least, curb such incidents. The bad news though is that the Nigerian police are notoriously stubborn. And where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Nigerian politicians
As Burna Boy never tires to tell us, “Last last, na everybody go chop breakfast.” And it looks like this dish Meffy has served belongs to everybody. On December 8, 2022, the House of Representatives asked Meffy to suspend the cash withdrawal policy and to come explain himself.
The governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Fintiri, also believes Meffy’s policy is a retaliatory move aimed against the political class because he’s frustrated his presidential bid didn’t take off.
Political parties
On December 12, 2022, Punch reported that political parties too have joined in calling for Meffy’s head. The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) even dragged Buhari into it by saying he’d never have become president if such restrictions were in place in 2014.
The chairman of the Africa Democratic Congress (ADC), Chief Ralph Nwosu also joined in.
‘’How do you expect the ADC candidate to have the cash to do the things he wants to do and how do you think this is the best time for such an undertaking? We have almost 200,000 agents that we must pay and 80% of them live in rural areas. Is it that ₦2,000 or ₦5,000 that you pay them that you would transfer to each of them? How many of them have such a facility? It’s completely inconsiderate of them.”
Some critics just think the parties are salty because the new policy will make vote-buying more difficult during the 2023 general elections.
