CBN’S INCOSISTENCIES IN MONETARY POLICIES

The Central Bank of Nigeria is constitutionally saddled with the responsibilty of ensuring the economic growth of the country through the policies it introduces. Overtime different CBN Governors have come with different policies they believe will aid the enhancement of the economy, some have been effective while others turned out to what could be termed “policy somersault”.

Sanusi-led CBN have introduced series of policies which one could say have left the banking industry unstable. He came up with the idea of the enforcement of the use of the coins a couple of years back, but Nigerians did not buy into that idea. Sensitization of the public was high, the threat of prosecution was made for those who refused to accept the coins as a medium of exchange, banks were made to force people to accept these coins across the counter when people went to banks for withdrawals, all these did not work. Then, again came the banning of the spraying of the naira notes, people still did not adhere to the law.

The announcement of the advent of the 5,000 naira note and the changing of the five, ten,twenty naira notes to coins was received by Nigerians with mixed feelings. Some of the arguments against the change of these naira notes currencies to coins include- most commodities would now be raised to the price where naira notes would be their sole medium of exchange. This automatically leads to inflation worse than the country is experiencing presently. Some have argued that 5,000 naira note would further aid corruption and bribery on a large scale. It is believed that it would now be easy for politicians to engage in the act of bribery because large sums of money can be moved around with without much hassles. It contradicts the cashless policy earlier embarked upon. While some proponents have compared Nigeria with a country like Germany which has high denominations like that, saying that it is not new.

It is expected of the CBN to carry out a survey on the acceptabillity and workability of any policy it wishes to introduce. It is meant to consider the pecularity of the Nigerian society, and fashion out what is applicable within the Nigerian economic system. If comparisons are being made with Germany, it is a very wrong comparison because the German economy is a manufacturing one while the Nigerian economy is a consuming one, which goes to show that ingenuity is needed to be able develop policies which would be relevant within the Nigerian context.

By now, the CBN should have an idea of how people think by virture of the failure of the re-introduction and enforcement of the coins a couple of years ago. Where is the nexus between the cashless policy and the introduction of 5,000 naira note? I would advice the CBN to be consistent with her policies as this ensures confidence of investors in the economy, which encourages stable economic growth and development.

WHEN THE TEACHERS ENGAGE IN EXAM MALPRACTRICES

Everyone in the country finds it convinient to say that Nigerian graduates are unemployable, making the efforts of most graduates unappreciated going by the unconducive learning environment that the average Nigerian student has to contend with. Even those who should be held responsible for this precarious situation shamelessly make this insinuations and no one seeks to hold anyone responsible.

The maxim which says that ‘teachers have their rewards in heaven’ has been eroded and deservedly too, but do they really have their rewards on earth since waiting for heaven is too long? Of course I am writing about teachers in Nigeria and the way they are renumerated, trained and empowered to discharge their duties efficiently and professionally. I witnessed an era whereby teachers were respected and even though were not rich, were of high quality and standard. Teachers were as important as parents based on their level of influence on the life of their students.

About a month ago, Lagos state conducted promotional exams for grade level 9 and 10 teachers, and I happened to be an invigilator, the average age of these teachers were 40years and by that fact some of them were old enough to be my mother. At the inception of the examination which was slated for one and a half hours, one man who looked to be in his late forties or early fifties beckoned on me and asked me to co-operate with them and that they had an envelope prepared for me, I told him, I did not understand what he was talking about and then he went further to make me understand that my invigilation should be one that would allow them use chips, I told him that it was against my religious belief, and he looked really frustrated. During the exams I siezed two chips brought in by two women (one of them looked old enough to be my mother), they had them hidden under their skirts. I had a hard time stopping and curtailing their communications in the class. At the end of the exams, one of them accosted me and offered me the envelope as earlier promised, but I bluntly refused and she could not believe her eyes, because I was young and my outlook gave the impression of one who should compromise.

It is an unfortunate situation here because there is a saying which goes thus ‘when the foundation is weak, what can the righteous do’?. The teachers are meant to be the foundations of the society, while the children be the righteous who depend on what virtures they are indoctrinated with to shape their lives. Now that we have teachers ready to cheat to pass their promotional exams what will students that they teach do? Will they be different from what they see their teachers do? Where are those teachers who taught  that honesty is the best policy? Teachers should know that their profession is a fundamental one.