Bishop of Ogbomoso Anglican Diocese, Right Reverend Titus Babatunde Olayinka, has urged the Federal Government to always review its policies that affect citizens.
Olayinka stated this at the first session of the sixth synod of the diocese at the Cathedral Church of St. David Agbonin, Ogbomoso, Oyo State.
He said the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Ministry of Finance, and the presidency to redesign the currency led to the death of many Nigerians.
He also charged newly-elected leaders in the country to work assiduously to bring Nigeria back on track, adding that the church will continue to pray for the restoration of the country.
According to him: “Masses are suffering and are dying as a result of policies that are neither friendly nor relevant to our situation on this side of the globe because of the low level of development. It seems that those who sit at the helm of affairs to take decisions on behalf of others do not carry out feasibility studies or that they are intentionally insensitive.
“This sudden and drastic decision of currency redesign and money swap had brought untold hardship to the citizens of this nation. Many small businesses collapsed as a result of the unavailability of cash; many went through hell to have bank transfers done as a result of poor network, most times money transferred was not delivered.
“No one is against mobile banking, but this is a culture that cannot be enforced within a short period. The populace is used to physical cash for transactions; the change from this culture should have been made gradual with sensitisation and awareness.
“Our appeal to the government is that policies like this should be reviewed and should be made people-friendly.
“Many people have died because there was no money to buy drugs at the time needed, hospitals rejected patients as a result of lack of cash to pay for their treatment. Sadly, the poor masses have been made to suffer because they could no longer easily access their own hard-earned money which they kept in banks.”
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