Why N100 Notes Is Being Left To Decay Into Extinction

The last time the N100 note currently in circulationwas printed was in November, 2014. As such, age has cut up with most of the notes in circulation; and some have even succumbed to extinction, leaving it in short supply and impacting on the exchange of goods and services.

The special N100 bill was printed as part of events to mark Nigeria’s centennial celebration at the time.

It was issued not long after Mr. Godwin Emefiele, current Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, was appointed to succeed MalamSanusiLamidoSanusi, who had been suspended by former President Goodluck Jonathan for allegedly dabbling in opposition politics at the time.

Given that no law in Nigeria provides for certainty of tenure for circulating currency, it is not uncommon to find Naira notes in degenerative states – threadbare, decrepit and smelly due to over-use and over-circulation to the point of national embarrassment.

The situation of Nigeria’s latest N100 bill in this regard is particularly marked that it comes across as though someone is taking out punitive measure against the poor N100 bill.

Most N100 notes in circulation today are short of being totally in shreds, practically diseased, and factually constituting health risks to Nigerians, not a few of whom have even come down with an assortment of conditions for handling the note.

Indeed, the N100 note has become a national humiliation, yet the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government doesn’t seem to blink, although a country’s currency not only constitutes a statement of national pride, but also a symbol of national identify.

It goes without saying that if Nigerians had a choice, they will not touch the bill even with a long pole. They will avoid it like Ebola; and rather deal with the other bills, since the CBN hasn’t ceased to print new notes of the others unlike the fate that has befallen N100 notes.

However, avoiding the use of the N100 bill is however impossible,because the various denominations of the naira, being measures or store of relative value, play their various roles in oiling the exchange and transactional mechanisms.

Once it was when in the course of an exchange, a Nigerian could reject a N100 note either as settlement for debt or as balance after settling debt, if he deemed the note as scruffy or tattered.

But these days Nigerians accept the notes no matter its presentation, quite under duress and reminiscent of an oppressive condition.

They are pressed to accept the note anyway, anyhow because, regardless, it remains a store of value even if looking utterly messy.

To this end, the question agitating many a Nigerian is: why has the CBN, as the agency of government responsible for printing naira notes, failed to print new notes of the N100 bill and also giving that scarcity of the note is hurting business transaction in the country and despite the health risks which use of the grubby notes pose to the average citizen;

One commentator, while hazarding a poor explanation, said: “The current scarcity of N100 could be tied to series of CBN policies, one of which is the cashless policy that aims to reduce the amount of physical currency circulating in the economy.

“The scarcity may also be tied to the economics of Naira notes denominations. What this implies is that the CBN may have deliberately reduced the quantity of N100 notes minted because of the associated cost of minting.

“It is cost efficient for the CBN to print more of N500 and N1000 notes than to print lots of N100 notes and other smaller denomination notes.”

Another commentator, explaining:“The gist is that these banks are charged a fee by the Central Bank anytime they take these mutilated notes to the CBN to be replaced. And the banks would rather not pay that fee.

“Apart from that, there is the issue of having to employ people to do the job of collecting and sorting the bad notes for onward transmission.

“The commercial banks would rather keep the money they would’ve had to pay the people employed to do that job. Protecting the bottom line, profits, is the important thing here.”

It would, however , be recalled that no sooner had the CBN issued the new N100 bill into circulation in 2014 than Muslim groups in country began to complain bitterly and join issues against it

This development did render the new note a subject of religious controversy.

For instance, the Professor IshaqAkintola-led Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) noted:“The office of the Muslim Rights Concern has been inundated with calls for action on the Jewish symbol on the new note.

“Nigerian Muslims are complaining that the Arabic writing in Hausa language (the Ajami script) that read ‘Naira Dari’ (i.e. one hundred naira) on the N100 note has been removed and replaced with the Jewish symbol, the Star of David.

“MURIC recalls that Arabic inscriptions which have always been on Nigerian currency since independence were unceremoniously removed in 2005 from N5, N10, N20 and N50 denominations. They remained on N100, N200, N500 and N1,000 denominations.

“Nigerian Muslims regard the latest action, namely, the supplanting of Arabic with Jewish symbol from the new N100 as a continuation of the campaign of elimination by substitution against Arabic language.”

But in a swift reaction to Akintola allegation that the Jonathan government was championing Zionism in Nigeria using the Naira, the government clarified that “There is nowhere on that proposed note where there is any Jewish or Zionist symbol or the Star of David.

“The symbol that he is referring to is not a Jewish symbol. It is what they call spark security feature. It is an optical magnetic feature which enables the public to authenticate a currency note whether it is genuine or counterfeit. That is the function of that particular design.”

Then, in April, this year, MURIC returns pouring invectives on the N100 note. Akintola called for its immediate withdrawal from circulation, but this time not over Jewish symbol.

He said: “The administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan officially issued the N100 commemorative centenary banknote on 19th December 2014.

“A major feature of that banknote was the removal of Arabic Ajami.  Nigerians consider Jonathan’s N100 note inferior to others printed earlier. It is of very low quality. It tears easily. It lacks second-hand value. It grows soft and fragile with time, thereby making it difficult to handle or fold in people’s pockets or wallets.

“Three and a half years on, Jonathan’s N100 note has qualified for the worst banknote ever printed in Nigeria. It is a national disgrace. This banknote should be withdrawn from circulation.

“The removal of Arabic Ajami is being interpreted as an attempt to discourage the learning and use of Arabic language which is the language of the Glorious Qur’an. It is a sensitive religious matter.”

If the foregoing is anything to go by, it would then be safe to say that the N100 note is suffering because it offended Muslim sensibilities.

Hence, nobody should expect new notes of the bill to be printed in the foreseeable future in order to have run into natural extinction.

It appears the note is being deliberately left to decay so that Akintola’sand his ilk would be justified in giving it a bad name in order to for Nigerians to demand for its replacement by a new bill that will satisfy Muslim standards.