Chairman of the Senate Committee on Army, Ali Ndume, has disclosed that the redesign of the naira notes and the rushed implementation of the cashless policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is having a negative impact on the operations of Nigerian troops battling with insurgents at the frontline.
Raising the alarm during an interaction with journalists in Maiduguri, Borno State on Saturday, Ndume picked holes in the claim by the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, that the policies were meant to plug the sources of terror financing and other security breaches, citing a recent viral video where some terrorists displayed the newly designed notes.
“Naira redesign and the CBN’s cashless policy are actually gravely affecting the strategic operations of troops at all front lines of insecurity across the country,” Ndume said.
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“Troops find it difficult to survive at the front lines due to the fact that they lack the cash to buy their daily basic needs at the remote communities across terrains of insecurity in the country where they cannot access cash due to the challenges posed by the currency redesign and cashless policy.
“Before now, soldiers had access to their daily stipends easily from ATMs and Points of Sales to enable them to provide for their daily basic needs to sustain their fighting spirit because the terrains of their operations are inaccessible for their daily rations to be delivered to them.
“Now, a soldier stays for hours on the ATM queue or PoS when he should be discharging his duties at the front line, just to access the stipend. This situation has dampened the morale of the troops at the front line,” Ndume lamented.
