BY Ayodele Oluwafemi
Chris Ngige, minister of labour and employment, says kidnappers and bandits are on “holiday” owing to the scarcity of naira notes in the country.
Speaking on Wednesday in an interview with Channels Television, Ngige said although the implementation of the naira redesign policy was not “smooth”, there are some benefits.
The labour minister said the policy curbed vote buying during the general election.
He added that Nigerians no longer have the cash to raise ransom for kidnappers and bandits owing to the policy.
“The policy is not smooth in its implementation. I admitted that. But whether it is a good policy? Yes, it is a good policy,” the minister said.
“It wasn’t smooth. It came with some pain but overall, did we get some sound benefits from it? Yes, we did. People didn’t buy votes during the elections.
“I usually go for elections and I know what I see. There was no cash exchange for votes. It wasn’t easy anymore. Kidnappers are on break, they are on strike so to say or recess. Bandits have also gone on holidays.
“If you take people from some homes, they will tell you they can’t even gather one million to give you, how much more asking them to bring N20 million for ransom.”
Over the past few months, Nigerians have been battling a scarcity of naira notes owing to the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to redesign N200, N500, and N1000 notes.
However, the supreme court invalidated the policy and ordered that the old naira remain legal tender until December 31, 2023.
Owing to the court judgement, the CBN announced the return of the old notes to commercial banks for circulation.
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