WHO SHOULD WE BLAME FOR THE SHORTAGE OF LOWER CURRENCY NOTES IN CIRCULATION ?
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A) Federal government policy ?
B) Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) policy ?
C) Commercial Banks ?
D) Lawmakers ?
E) Politicians/Political Leaders ?
F) Members of the Public.
All but (F) is affected directly by the shortage of lower Currency notes of N5.00, N10.00, N20.00, N50.00, N100.00, and N200.00 in circulation as majority of members of the Public are either Artisans or Petty Traders that would need such notes for their daily transactions; while all the groups (A-E) would prefer to hold and spend N500.00, N1000.00,£, $,€ notes at any point in time.
The untoward hardships emanating from shortage of lower currency notes on members of the Public are enormous,for example hardly do you get products or services for N5.00 now in Nigeria. Even as small as fried beans cake and yam,it's sold for N10.00,Sugar is now wrapped for N20.00 and very small, intangible Salt now at N50.00 or N100.00.
It's amazing that a single wrap of Sweet or Chocolate is now sold for N10.00,the amount that could procure a pack of 25 or 50 Sweetlets some years back.
It's even astonishing and embarrassing that Manufacturers and Importers of consumables/goods are cheating on the members of Public by reducing the quality and or quantity of what they pack for sales without adequate check and balance from the Standard Organization of Nigeria(S.O.N),and Consumer Protection Agency.
I would like to appeal to all the Stakeholders in Nigeria Polity to work harmoniously, especially on the menace of cheating members of the Public through weights and measures(Standardization) and shortage of lower currency notes in circulation which makes Marketers and Traders round off their selling price of the products to the available notes.
God help us.
Amen.