Adams Oshiomhole, deputy director-general of operations for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, has claimed that there was no withdrawal limit when Nigeria’s currency was redesigned in 1984.
This is coming in the heat of the latest naira swap policy following the announcement by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to release newly redesigned Naira notes by December 15, 2022, after which old N200, N500, and N1000 notes would cease to be legal tenders by January 31, 2023.
The new Naira redesign policy came with a maximum weekly withdrawal of N500,000 for individuals and N5 million for corporate entities effective January 9, 2023.
The apex bank would later fix February 10, 2023, as a new deadline for the swap of the old notes in response to the controversies that trailed the January 31 deadline earlier given.
Oshiomhole, who appeared on Channels Television’s election programme, The Verdict, on February 5, 2023, was asked to speak to the scarcity of naira notes currently being experienced across the country.
The former Edo state governor, who is also contesting to represent Edo North at the senate, said the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, deceived President Muhammadu Buhari to allow the naira redesign policy at this time.
Oshiomhole while reacting to the withdrawal limit said, “this governor has broken no new ground because we have changed currency before and I dare say, check the records when General Buhari changed the colours of the Naira”.
“When he did in his first coming as military head of state, he did not forbid banks from paying people new notes, he did not impose restrictions as to how much you can withdraw, provided it is your lawful money,” Oshiomhole said.
Claim: There were no withdrawal restrictions when the Buhari-led regime redesigned Nigeria’s currency in 1984.
Verification
Findings by the CDD Election War Room revealed that there were indeed restrictions to the amount of money Nigerians could withdraw when the naira was redesigned in 1984. There was also a time limit of fewer than 14 days for the implementation.
According to the CBN, “in April 1984, all the note denomination with the exception of the 50 kobo note were reissued by merely interchanging their colours”.
“The exercise was undertaken purely as a tactical measure by the military administration which took over power in December 1983. It was intended to arrest the alarming rate of currency trafficking going on at the time. the coins were still those of 1973 issues.”
The move, which was also reported by international media, including the New York Times and United Press International (UPI) shows that there were indeed limits.
To prevent currency trafficking, the military government, put a time restriction of just two weeks for naira exchange and withdrawal limit on the new notes.
As for the withdrawal limit, the military government, led by Buhari also put the cap at a maximum of the naira equivalent of $7,000, which was a little over N5,000 at the time.
As Buhari noted in his January 2, 1985 budget speech, the move was successful in “trapping hundreds of millions smuggled out and hundreds of millions stolen or counterfeited which could not be exchanged. The result is that there is less money in circulation and value and respect for the Naira enhanced”.
Verdict
The claim by Adams Oshiomole that there were no restrictions when the Naira was redesigned in 1984 is false; multiple reports show that citizens had just 12 days (April 24 to May 6) to exchange the old notes, and could only withdraw a maximum of the naira equivalent of $7,000.
Leave a Reply