One very good thing that Godwin Emefiele and his team at CBN has done in recent times, and I also give President Buhari due credit, is the decision by the apex bank to redesign the naira notes. That singular decision exposed how morally bankrupt our nation is and how bad our political and business leaders are. The president, I guess, knew all along that he was surrounded by wolves in sheep’s skin. He knew those he kept as gate keepers of the treasury are thieves. Having suffered the casualty of fighting corruption as a former military dictator in the past , that singular experience, I guess, informed his last-minute decision to deal a heavy blow on corrupt individuals who thought that all these while they were exploiting his old age and poor health to abuse the privilege of their offices.
Since the new naira policy was announced, we have been treated to sights of some of the missing N2.3 trillion hidden in some safe homes of past and serving political leaders. Some of the currencies have decayed and lost textures. It wasn’t just the local currencies that were stolen; dollars, euro and pounds also were all starched away amidst the suffering of poor masses.
It’s unbelievable that in a country where suffering has become the norm, some people could steal billions and starch them away in dark corners. These corrupt individuals did not invest the money they have stolen in any venture that will help grow the society; they didn’t give to charity. They hoarded money while people die in poverty and children die of malnutrition. They watch the education system collapse and businesses close; they heartlessly watch our youths turn to criminals; they supervised the collapse of our health sectors and ensured our roads remain death traps. That’s mean!
Same characters that collapsed our economy, destroyed our peace and love for country want to continue to rule over us or have their heirs and heiresses continue from where they stopped. There must be something wrong with African leaders that make them loot their nations with fugitive mentality. More worrisome is even our unwillingness to push back on them. Instead, we accept what is going on as normal. Why are we like this?
I have watched and listened to people criticise the new CBN policy and some others who claimed the naira was just re-coloured and not redesigned. May be they were expecting some aesthetics. I can refer some of these armchair critics to the dollar. The green paper is not the most beautiful currency in the world. It has a maximum of two colours dominated by green. What makes the dollar a powerful currency is not the aesthetics but the power it commands.
The CBN, given our current economic woes, needs not design a complex and complicated note to create any impression. It took the right decision to cut cost by simply changing the colour of the naira notes. That singular effect renders the old notes invalid. As far as I can tell, the objective of the change in currency is being achieved. Rather, they engage in unending criticism as if we are brain dead. We should seek clarification and better understanding so as to understand the new policy and why the CBN is making the push they are making. We have heard the Finance Minister speak against the new policy which showed that even top ranking associates of the president were ambushed. We should be grateful that the new policy was confidentially handled and timely executed. The money will rot with them because if they bring it out, EFCC will come after them and our crooked bankers should know better than collaborate with them because they are thieves and they are corrupt.
I have looked around and checked the key actors in our politics. I have listened to them and I cannot find any with any clear answers to our problems. The current drivers do not have answers just like the new drivers that want to take over have no answers either. In fact, they want to drive the very vehicle they claimed is a knocked engine. What happened to the theory of repairing the engine first before finding a driver because as things are right now, no driver can actually drive Nigeria with its broken engine and weather -beaten tyres to its destination.
But our God is a glorious God and in Him is our help. The only hope I see for Nigeria is God. Only God can rescue this nation hence we must put our trust in Him alone, not in PDP, not in APC and not in LP. Forget their rhetoric. They are all part of the problems and none of them have any clear answer to our problems.
My people, even when we are despairing, we should not give up hope and our trust in God promises to his people. Saint Paul taught us that all things work for good for those who love God and who are called according to his purpose. Sorrow and tragedy, disappointment and suffering will try to drag us down and feel us with desolation. But God gives us strength and the sure knowledge that the failings of our world will not have the last word. I therefore encourage fellow citizens who are in despair and agony not to give up on God for everything we experience and we encounter is for our very best. Actually, this is the time to mobilise our activism and awake both our spiritual and political consciousness.
As we approach Christmas, this is the time for us to seize the season of advent which actually started on the 22nd of November. Advent is the four-Sunday season before Christmas. The season refreshes our mind of the nativity of Jesus Christ before Christmas. It also honours us with his continuing presence among us today with the anticipation of Christ’s birth which is celebrated on Christmas day and of course the visits of the three kings from the East who visited the infant Jesus at Bethlehem in our lives . Sadly, many Christians have lost the meaning of the season but this is the time to reclaim our victory. The season can give us hope and optimism despite the challenges that we face in our country today.
Yes, we are pissed off by the system, our politicians offer no hope for the future. They have no clear answer to any of our problem. They never had any answer yesterday and have no clear answer today nor tomorrow because they are the very ones that messed up the entire system but still God is not done with us. Because he is not done with us, we shouldn’t give up on ourselves or on Him. His promises to His people endure forever.
It’s right that we understand that all hopes of this life, financial security, good health, a happy family and reformed church are offered up and placed within this greater hope of eternal life and happiness with God.
Christmas reminds us that God has already overcome the world and its tribulations and is actively working to bring grace and peace into our lives. We should use the season to show love to one another. Whatever is wrong with our situation today, we must understand that evil does not last forever. So, all these pains, suffering and frustrations too shall soon pass away. Our oppressors, our bad leaders and bad governance shall all pass away too. We shall all rejoice in him if we cast and place our hope in Christ Jesus. The cries of the poor will reach heaven.