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From Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi
Reactions have trailed the President Muhammadu Buhari’s address to the nation on Thursday with many knocking him, for the return of old N200 notes only.
The respondents lampooned the president for being insensitive to the sufferings that Nigerians are going through saying the N200 naira notes will not alleviate the situation.
They recommended that the president should leave Aso Rock, walk the streets of the country as an ordinary Nigerian, then he will understand better the conditions of the people he is leading.
President Muhammadu Buhari, in national broadcast on the challenges of the currency swap and state of the nation, said “To further ease the supply pressures particularly to our citizens, I have given approval to the CBN that the old N200 bank notes be released back into circulation and that it should also be allowed to circulate as legal tender with the new N200, N500, and N1000 banknotes for 60 days from February 10, 2023 to April 10 2023 when the old N200 notes ceases to be legal tender.”
Reacting to the address, the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), Benue state chapter, said the act is another confirmation that the All Progressives Congress, APC, led federal government do not mean well for Nigerians.
Speaking through its Publicity Secretary, Bemgba Iortyom, the party said “The statement by Mr President that the old N200 note be returned as a legal tender alongside the new ones and other denominations that remain unchanged, has not come to us in the PDP as a surprise.
“Even if we are surprised, then we have meant that we are expecting anything good to come out of this regime. But it is one of the continual confirmations of earlier understanding that this regime doesn’t mean well for Nigeria.
“Otherwise, any leadership that has an ear inclined on to the condition of the people that it is leading would understand, without thinking twice at least coming from the cries, agonies and pains that pervert this country across the length and breadth that are captured in specific shameful video recording of incidents happening here and there, people stripping themselves naked in banking halls, people being unable to cope with basic day-to-day living.
“It’s not as if it’s even the recolouration that has brought about the suffering, the suffering has been there since may 29, 2015 when Buhari took over power in Nigeria and threw the country back to 1983 era all over again.
“But this recolouration has deepened the suffering of the people to a point that no one could have imagined. I think the situation in Nigeria at the moment could be compared to countries like Haiti, and perhaps Afghanistan and Somalia where life is less a jungle. That is the state Buhari has thrown this country into.”
Bemgba said “for President Buhari not to understand even at this point that people are suffering and for him to have even thrown that little crumb palliative, the N200 palliative, what is this policy all about? Can he convincingly and satisfactorily tell us and tell himself that the policy objective has been achieved? If he could say it has been achieved, then it meant that he has set out to inflict maximum pain and suffering on Nigerians.
“So, to us, it does not come as a surprise. Nigerians will just have to knuckle down and suffer it till May 29, 2023 when Buhari would have left and then not just that, they should vote into power a president that will revert the rot that this man has put in place,” Bemgba added.
Also speaking on the state of the nation address, the Nigerian Bar Association, (NBA), Makurdi branch expressed some reservations with the return of N200.
The Makurdi NBA, through its Secretary, Joseph Gbagyo, pointed out that “The subject matter is before the apex court of our country and some pronouncements have been made by the President to further ease the supply pressures, particularly to our citizens.
“Giving approval to the CBN that the old N200 note be released back into circulation and that it should also be allowed to circulate as legal tender with the new 200, 500 and 1,000 bank notes for 60 days from February 10th 2023 to April 10th 2023 when the old 200 Naira notes ceases to be legal tender is against the rule of law in Democratic dispensation.
“To me, the President should have waited for the outcome of the suit before the Supreme court of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.
In her reaction, a member of the Civil Society Organization, CSO, and the Executive Director, Community Links and Human Empowerment Initiative, (CLHEI), Helen Teghtegh,
“We expect our leaders to leave their comfort zones, to leave Aso Rock, in this case, our President and walk the street even if he does not want to be recognized as the president, he can drive along to see the way things are on the street, this is a pressure everyone is going through
Helen said she does not see the return of old N200 cautioning any effect in the recent situation Nigerians are currently going through.
“He may bring that as a solution but I don’t see that working or offering a quick response or alleviating or responding to the issues on ground and how would he know when he does not feel it? It is easy to sit at the top and speak to people when you don’t know their pain.
“So my recommendation is, if you want to be a true leader and feel the pain of the people, you have to come down and walk the street and feel the pain then probably policy or decisions you make would now apply to the people.
“It does not matter what he is trying to curb but for Christ sake people are living in IDP camps. Today, I had a meeting with an IDP chairman we just met and the old N500 he had was not collected from him and it was embarrassing he had to look for the new note to pay the bike man, he should have harvested inputs from the grassroot before making such decisions,” Teghtegh said.
