Naira Scarcity: Emefiele committed crime against humanity, says Soyinka

From Abubakar Yunusa, ABUJA

Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, has blamed the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria for the hardship faced by Nigerians due to the implementation of the Naira swap policy.
Mr. Soyinka, who spoke on Channels Television’s Roadmap 2023 programme, also blamed President Muhammadu Buhari for enabling the CBN governor.
“Emefiele has committed a crime against humanity, over and beyond even any electoral mago mago (foul play),” Mr Soyinka said.
“He struck at the heart of the subsisting survival principles, minimal needs and entitlements of the ordinary people in the street.
“Don’t bully me. Don’t take my voice away. Don’t take my economic potential away, my economical entitlements. Don’t throw me on the mercy of sadists like Emefiele.”
Last December, the CBN introduced new N200, N500, and N1000 notes, leading to the withdrawal of the old notes from circulation.
The policy, aimed at curbing counterfeiting and inflation, caused chaos across banks and ATM terminals, with protests breaking out in different parts of the country.
At the height of the uncertainty, many Nigerians encountered challenges doing business and making cash payments in their daily transactions.
Following a Supreme Court ruling, the policy was reversed in March when the bank directed commercial banks to dispense and receive the old N200, N500, N1000 bank notes.
On Monday, Mr Soyinka said Mr Emefiele and the president shares the blame for the hardship faced by Nigerians.
He recalled how he could only get cash from a banker when he needed money at the height of the cash crunch.
“You can’t buy a newspaper. You can’t buy guguru (popcorn) and epa (grounduts), which means that you cannot pay for the plantain; which means that the farmer cannot even pay for transportation of the goods from his farm to the [markets],” he said.