Nigerian author and political economist Michael Ogueke has taken to his social media to call out corruption in and around the election season in Nigeria. Nigeria will host their presidential elections shortly, and the government of Nigeria has announced the currency redesign.
In light of this, several political parties protested the redesign in its initial stage. Later, these political parties ask the central bank to extend the reissue deadline for the “new naira notes” and to become legal tender.
Professor Michael Ogueke reasoned that Elections all over the world, especially in Africa & in particular Nigeria, are a ‘cash & carry’ business.
He has observed that Political parties, their candidates & sponsors pay out huge sums of cash for campaign purposes. These sums of money are used to bribe electoral officials & members of other agencies connected with the outcome of elections.
Additionally, the accumulated amount is also used as well as for vote buying. These transactions are largely done in cash to circumvent electoral regulations & the eyes of security & financial watchdogs.
According to Ogueke, In the past four years, political parties & politicians starting from all the presidential aspirants down to the governors seeking re-elections or working to replace themselves with their stooges, senators, state assembly members etc., including their sponsors, have all stockpiled hundreds of billions of naira for the 2023 elections.
Now, Ogueke noted that the redesigning of the naira notes on the eve of a general election is going to cause serious upheaval in its implementation. These hundreds of billions of naira stockpiled by politicians will surely pass through back channels into the banks to exchange them for the new notes. This, in turn, will trigger temporary scarcity & disruptions in the supply of the new currency to the public.
Meanwhile, Michael Ogueke believes that Moving these hundreds of billions of stockpiled notes through back channels into the banking system & getting them exchanged for new notes is always easy for politicians. Ogueke clarifies that these banks are owned or controlled through majority shares by politicians or their sponsors.
This is why politicians clamour for postponing the deadline date of the 31st. In light of this situation, Ogueke blames the CBN Governor, Emefiele, for incompetence. If not, he argues that the CBN governor is trying to sabotage APC by creating a currency crisis.
This, in turn, will lead to the destabilisation of the economy and generate a public perception of the failure of this administration which will elicit mass discontent against the party.
Michael Ogueke further argues that if Emefiele is not trying to sabotage or cause mischief, There are smarter ways that a competent Central Bank governor can effect solutions to fiscal & monetary problems. Further, he notes Implementing such a solution on the eve of a crucial general election is not one of them.
