“Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.”
—Anonymous
By Enyeribe Ejiogu
Do you remember the melodious song, Rocket Love, in which Stevie Wonder sang about a warm, sensitive woman he had longed for since he was born; a woman with pride and strength no one would test, but yet had feminine finesse and much more.
Continuing his recount of the painful experience that inspired the heart-breaking song, the all-time best Black American master songwriter bemoaned what happened this way: “You took me riding in your rocket, gave me a star. But at a half mile from heaven you dropped me back, down to this cold, cold world.”
And from very high up in the stratosphere, as the song indicated, he came tumbling down to earth with a body shattering force. Such was the cold heartedness of the “warm sensitive woman” portrayed in the love song that once ruled the airwaves more than three decades ago.
The painful love experience of Stevie Wonder mirrors the current agony of Nigerians, just 10 days to Christmas and the multiplicity of activities, interstate travels, merrymaking and family visits, among other things which follow the flurry and frenzy of shopping trips to the major markets as people buy all manner of things needed to celebrate the joy and conviviality of the Yuletide season.
Despite the near-crippling hardship in the country, which is driven by the twin demons of high transport fares that are raised daily with each upward adjustment of the price of petrol (premium motor spirit) and depreciation of the naira against the dollar and the continuing increase in the cost of living, Nigerians still strive with stoic resilience to carry on with life endeavours.
However, they justifiably feel that the Central Bank of Nigeria has behaved like the sensitive woman in Stevie Wonder’s song: the CBN encouraged Nigerians to bring their money into the banking system instead of hording them in homes, shops, private vaults. Instead the same customers are now agonizing because of growing cash scarcity in the country, at this very time people are trying to endure the hardship unleashed on them by the economic policies of the Federal Government.
It saddens everyone that it is happening after most of the banks had trumpeted that they had upgraded their ICT transaction processing systems to quicken service delivery to the customers.
With all the supposed huge investments made by the banks to upgrade their systems, they have no money in their ATMs, leaving customers frustrated.
Those that go into the banking halls to withdraw cash get rationed amounts, ranging from N5,000 to N20,000 depending on the bank. Some banks have simply pegged the maximum across-the-counter cash withdrawals per customer at N10,000!
The emerging scenario is reminiscent of what happened before Christmas in 2022, after the former CBN governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, changed the colours of the N200, N500 and N1,000 in the so-called attempt to withdraw the amount of cash in circulation and compel Nigerians to transit to a cashless economy. Unfortunately, the combined information technology platforms of the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBBS), the mainstream banks (known as deposit money banks, DMBs) and the payment service banks (PSBs), for processing cashless transactions could not easily and smoothly handle the billions of simultaneous transactions per minute, leading to millions of failed transactions.
A lot of people lost huge funds that could not be recovered from the manual transaction resolution processes which some banks tried to implement. Many Nigerians experienced untold agony during that period which stretched into the 2023 general elections and the thereafter.
As the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari left the scene and the Bola Tinubu administration settled down into governance, the cash scarcity ebbed noticeably and a level of normalcy returned. But that is about to be blown away again as the Yuletide mood settles on people.
Within the first seven months of 2024, NIBSS recorded N572.63 trillion in cashless transactions, a clear indication that a fast growing number of Nigerians have welcomed the payment option, especially done through the PSBs that invested in superfast processing systems in the later part of 2023 and 2024. By the end of 2023, cashless payments grew to N611.06 trillion from N395.38 trillion in 2022 and had grown further since then.
Like the mythical bird, Phoenix, which comes back to life from its ashes, the demon of cash scarcity must not be allowed to torment Nigerians again, especially during this Christmas season. It must be impelled like a vampire with the mystical spear of the CBN.
It is noteworthy that Vice President Kashim Shettima recognized this when he addressed the august gathering at the 2024 Bankers’ Committee Retreat.
Speaking through the Special Adviser on Economic Affairs, Office of the Vice President, Tope Fasua, he urged banks to ensure seamless availability of Naira notes to the banking public.
Equally, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Yemi Cardoso, in a statement issued in his name directed DMBs to live up to expectations and strive to resolve the disputes quickly.
Cardoso first served as the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget under President Bola Tinubu when he was Lagos State governor. Prior to that he had a sterling private sector career in banking, stockbroking, consulting and an appointment as the Chair of the Board of Citibank Nigeria, among numerous leadership positions he has held in the past.
Cardoso had a privileged education at Corona School, Ikoyi and St. Gregory’s College, Lagos before going to Aston University, United Kingdom, to earn a Bachelor of Science (BSc.) degree in Managerial and Administrative Studies in 1980. He also studied for a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, United States of America.
So, when President Tinubu appointed him as CBN governor on September 15, 2023, the Senate gave him a speedy confirmation eight days later on September 23, given his experience and track record at the CitiBank Group and Citizens International Bank and while serving in Lagos State.
Against the excellent background of the CBN governor and his proven managerial capacity, what Nigerians want from him is very simple: to make the Yuletide fun-filled again.
They want him to end their suffering, queuing for long time inside and outside banks to get little rations of cash. They want the CBN to provide them enough cash to buy all the essential things they need for Christmas, pay bus and Keke fares, among other sundry expenses.
They want the Financial Systems Stability Department to raise its game. They want the CBN unit that liaises with and monitors the operations of NIBSS to improve its services in terms of facilitating digital transfers. They want the CBN unit that interfaces with the GSM networks, which provide interconnectivity data services to the mainstream deposit money banks (DMBs) and the payment services banks (Opay, Palmpay, Momo, etc) to be up and doing, to ensure that transfers and failed transfers are expeditiously resolved without causing customers stress.
There is anger in the land, and the tardy handling of bank customers’ requests for their money should not pour petrol on the fire of anger rumbling in them, so as to prevent the ugly spectacles witnessed in banking halls during the severe cash scarcity that preceded the 2023 presidential elections.