Category: Discourse

On Tuesday, March 21, 2023, the National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno, touched on two very significant aspects of the operations of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) which were either unfamiliar to or insufficiently appraised by a substantial section of the public.

The NSA was speaking at the commissioning of the new ONSA and National Counterterrorism Centre (NCTC) buildings performed by President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Three Arms Zone, Abuja.

First of the two points Monguno laid bare concerns question about how ONSA derived its mandate. He said the office was created by Decree 19 of 1986 and validated by the 1999 Constitution as the National Security Agencies Act. The same law created the Department of State Services, the National Intelligence Agency and the Defence Intelligence Agency.   “The Office, through the activities of key interagency intelligence-sharing platforms such as the Intelligence Community Committee, Joint Intelligence Board, General Security Appraisal Committee and the Cybercrime Advisory Council, assesses the security concerns of the country and advises the President on all matters bordering on national security,” he said.

The second aspect of ONSA’s operations he pointed out deals with the increasing responsibilities emerging and evolving security threats have placed on the office through the formulation of new policies and creation of new departments, as well as the strengthening of existing ones.

Indeed, in the past eight years, there have been the design or amendments of strategies aimed at addressing emerging and evolving security threats such as violent extremism, terrorism, cybercrime, the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, control of the use of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives (CBRNE) related materials by non-state actors, and so on.

The Terrorism Prevention Act, first signed into law in 2011 and amended in 2013 and 2022, as well as the National Counterterrorism Strategy (NACTEST), the Cybersecurity Policy and Strategy, the National Security Strategy and the Policy Framework and National Action Plan for Prevention and Countering Violent Extremism, have all broadened the counterterrorism responsibilities of ONSA.

These policies and strategies led to the establishment of various departments, such as the NCTC; the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons; the Cybersecurity Coordination Centre; and the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons. They have also led to the upgrade of existing departments, including the Intelligence Fusion Centre (IFC).

NSA Monguno’s decision to clarify where ONSA derived its mandate and what necessitated the expansion of its functions was understandably based on previous antecedents and misconceptions about its role, which fueled an imaginary function of ONSA not contained in the statute from which it was established.        

Under Monguno, one of the cardinal shifts in the approach taken by ONSA in Preventing/Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE) was the mainstreaming of implementation in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), while the office concentrates on its core function of coordinating efforts as stipulated by the Terrorism Prevention Act (as amended) 2022. And through ONSA, Nigeria has also been an active player in global security cooperation. From co-hosting a virtual meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS with the United States to hosting the first-ever National Chemical Security Training Conference in collaboration with NAFDAC and the United States Department of States; Co-chairing (along with Switzerland) the Criminal Justice and the Rule of Law (CJ-ROL) Working Group of the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) to co-organising the First Expert Meeting of the Working Group for the development of a set of recommendations on Rule of Law-Based Administrative Measures in Counter-Terrorism Context, Nigeria is globally recognised for contributing significantly to counterterrorism policy and practice efforts.

Domestically, ONSA has been spearheading strong inter-agency collaboration to tackle national security threats across various components. One such is the facilitation of the effective tackling of some key threats within Nigeria’s maritime environment through the Falcon Eye maritime domain surveillance system. “It is for this reason (of inter-agency collaboration) that the project (Falcon Eye) has a maritime stakeholders’ cell here in the Main Control Centre to accommodate representatives of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Nigerian Ports Authority and Marine Police, amongst others,” Monguno said at the launching of the project.

By spearheading collaborations and partnerships with bilateral and multilateral organisations, as well as partner countries, Monguno’s ONSA has embarked on significant efforts leading to appreciable achievements to ward off threats to Nigeria’s national security. For instance, in collaboration with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the Office developed the Demobilisation, Disassociation, Reintegration and Reconciliation (DDRR) Action Plan for the country. Also, in partnership with UNDP, has embarked on a series of sensitisation workshops on P/CVE targeting key stakeholders for effective grassroots networking. The ONSA has since made coordination, inter-agency collaboration and strategic communication crucial creeds which drive the government’s efforts on national, regional and global security.

Thus, the commissioning of the new, state-of-the-art ONSA and NCTC building complex with advanced facilities was a culmination of all the good work Monguno and his team have been putting into issues of national security. An evidently excited and proud President Muhammadu Buhari could not hide his pleasant surprise and admiration for his NSA, who is known for his preference for outcomes than propaganda. While congratulating Monguno “for this noble achievement”, the president expressed confidence that the commissioning of the new office complex and facilities would in no small measure enhance the desired peaceful and secure environment for the country.

The UN Resident Coordinator for Nigeria, Matthias Schmale, commended Nigeria for the progress made by the military to degrade the operational capacity of Islamic State West Africa Province and Boko Haram and to improve intelligence gathering on suspected terrorists. He pledged that the UN would continue to work closely with the Nigerian government in its ongoing counter-terrorism efforts in various capacities.

He also reserved special praise for the NSA, saying, “We further commend the development of threat assessments and watchlists by Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA, the active cooperation with Interpol, the establishment of multiagency screening processes, the trials of multiple terrorist suspects, and the development of Federal and State rehabilitation and reintegration programmes.”

As alluded to by President Buhari, with the kind of capacity, policy frameworks, facilities and forged partnerships ONSA is rooted in under Monguno, the next administration is going to inherit national security capabilities that are kept abreast with the highest global standards.

By Seunmanauel Faleye

In today’s world, politics is often more about bitterness and division than finding common ground and working towards a better future for all. However, it doesn’t have to be this way.

There are examples throughout history and around the world of politics without bitterness, where people from different backgrounds and with different beliefs come together to build a better society.

This was displayed in a recent video made public by APC’s Vice-President-Elect Kashim Shetimma in a video he shared recently on his TikTok account where he shared pleasantries with NNPP’s Vice-Presidential Candidate, Bishop Isaac Idahosa, along with other dignitaries at one of the forums leading up to the 2023 election. Underneath, Spryro’s sensational tune, ‘Who’s Your Guy?’ promoting friendship and loyalty was playing.

Though diverse in ethnicity, and religion, both men have shown a common passion to unify Nigeria. Kashim Shetimma is a Muslim from the North East, while Bishop Isaac is a Christian from the South-South of Nigeria.

One key to politics without bitterness is a willingness to listen to and understand the perspectives of others. Instead of assuming that those who disagree with us are ignorant or malicious, we can seek to understand their reasoning and find common ground.

This doesn’t mean we have to abandon our own beliefs or values, but it does mean we can engage in constructive dialogue rather than shouting at each other.

Another key is to focus on shared goals and values rather than differences. For example, if we all agree that we want a safe and prosperous society, we can work together to achieve that goal even if we have different ideas about how to get there.

By focusing on what we have in common rather than on what sets us apart, we can build bridges and find solutions that benefit everyone.

Of course, politics without bitterness doesn’t mean there won’t be disagreements or heated debates. But it means we can disagree respectfully and without demonizing those who hold different views.

We can recognize that people on all sides of an issue are human beings with their own experiences and perspectives and that we are all ultimately working towards the same goal of creating a better world.

There are many examples of politics without bitterness throughout history and around the world. In Iceland, for example, citizens came together in 2010 to rewrite their constitution after the financial crisis.

The process was open and inclusive, with citizens of all backgrounds invited to participate, and the resulting document reflects a consensus vision for a more just and equitable society.

Similarly, after decades of civil war in Colombia, citizens came together to form a truth and reconciliation commission to address past abuses and build a more peaceful future.

Despite deep divisions and mistrust, the commission brought together people from all sides of the conflict to work towards a common goal.

Ultimately, politics without bitterness requires a willingness to see the humanity in others and to work towards shared goals. It requires a recognition that we are all in this together, and that by working together we can create a better future for everyone.

While it may not always be easy, it is a goal worth striving for, and one that can bring us closer to the society we all want to live in.

By Femi Obadare

He is going back to the National Assembly for the sixth time. While he has spent the last session as the Speaker of the House of Assembly, it was in 2003 that Femi Gbajabiamila was first elected to the House of Representatives to represent Surulere 1 Federal Constituency, Lagos. Then, aged 40, he was going to the House with experiences gained in law which practised in the United States. Now, at 60, he has been consecutively re-elected in five other elections, serving as Minority Whip, Minority Leader, Opposition Leader, and Majority Leader before getting elected as Speaker in 2019. Throughout that time, while he worked at Abuja, he has always been in constant touch with his constituency.

 While he influences and even sponsors various public goods like road construction, street lighting, and sports centres to the area he represents, he also embarks on human capital developmental projects for his constituents. In fact, it has become a sort of annual ritual that the Speaker gives out poverty alleviation items such as motorcycles, tricycles, buses, educational grants and training. To usher in 2022, the Speaker embarked on a flurry of projects commissioning. He commissioned a 40 KVA Solar panel Inverter and 40 KVA generator at Randle Hospital and visited the ongoing conversion of the Femi Gbajabiamila Primary Health Centre to a multi-storey hospital at Iyun Road. He also inspected the ongoing Abalti Barracks Mini Stadium and a 1000 capacity hostel for international students at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), a project he said was “after my heart.”

 “For me, if you identify yourself as a Nigerian, then you must also identify yourself with every other Nigerian from all the six geopolitical zones of the country,” Gbajabiamila said in 2022 about the projects.

 “If you look at the sectors we started commissioning in three days, which are health, road infrastructure, and most importantly, education. The hostel for international students is something after my heart and the project will be done by April, this year. My message is very clear to Nigerians, peace and unity can only bring one thing and it is progress, no progress without unity.

 “Education must always take its rightful place in every developed society, education remains the bedrock of every society, the society cannot move forward without education. No child must be left behind, education to me is not a privilege but a right and we must treat it as a right.

 Since June 2019, the Speaker has constructed/rehabilitated over 100 roads including Mabo-Fashoro, Bishop link road, Shodipe Akobi Crescent, Owokoniran-Laniyan link Road, Odejayi Crescent, Olodeokuta Street, Ramos Street, Iponri zone A, B and D, Rosamond street, Mayday Road, Bishop Kaale, Babs Animashaun Street, Royal Estate Road, Bishop Howell and Eric Moore Towers Road.

 In February 2020, Gbaja, as he is fondly called, gave education grants to 351 students in public tertiary institutions across the country, while 1,020 secondary school principals and teachers were given laptops for ease of teaching.

 “Our responsibility as legislators is to feel the pulse of our constituents and work to address their needs,” he said during the event. “I have always had a passion for education and have tried to focus on touching the lives of students and teachers in our constituency.

 “This follows the numerous infrastructural projects we have attracted to this constituency and neighbouring constituencies. From roads to new hospitals, from ICT infrastructure in all public tertiary institutions to facilitating numerous employment for our youth, as well as numerous political appointments for improved representation of our people in government.”

 He added: “We have also succeeded in lighting up all the streets in Surulere thereby improving the night-life economy, security and safety of our constituents. In the area of sports development, we have facilitated the construction of numerous mini-stadia. We are working to do more and attract more projects to our constituency and beyond.”

 The Speaker also financially supported 1,596 small business owners in the constituency while he inaugurated several ICT centres and newly renovated school buildings around Surulere. And seeking to invest in the lives and comfort of those in his constituency, the Speaker came up with a scheme – GbajaRide Transportation Initiative in Surulere 1 – in 2018. Through this, he bought and distributed 30 buses, 25 tricycles, 160 motorcycles among his constituents to be used as public transportation.

 “From the Gbaja Ride Project, about 2,000 young men and women divided into groups of five to ten, have been empowered,” Gbajabiamila said recently..

 “I believe with every one person empowered, you have indirectly empowered a minimum of five people including parents and family. It becomes clear that when you do the arithmetic, this project potentially touches the lives of 10,000.

  “As you are aware, I have facilitated several roads in the constituency and we are currently installing 26 new solar water plants along with home solar system in 400 homes in Surulere which is a tip of our numerous projects.”

 But beyond his primary constituency, the Speaker’s empathy does not diminish. It would be recalled that he was vocal in defence of the hapless Nigerians bearing the brunt of poor implementation of the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank. Thankfully, the Supreme Court ruled on the acceptance of old currency notes till December 31, 2023 to assuage the cash crunch caused by scarcity of redesigned naira notes and seizure of the old naira notes by the apex bank.

 “The decision of the Supreme Court suspending the currency swap policy introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and extending the implementation deadline to 31st December 2023 validates the position of the House in its entirety,” Gbajabiamila had said, reacting to the Supreme Court judgement.

 “The remarkably haphazard implementation of the currency swap policy fell way short of international standards. It deviated from the prior practice of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) without providing any benefits to the Nigerian people or the economy of Nigeria, both of which have suffered significant harm as a result.”

 He also chested out to resolve the protracted Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike last year and would also be remembered for sponsoring a Bill to Criminalise Estimated Bills issued by power distribution companies in Nigeria and to compel the provision of prepaid metres to homes. He spoke out on the xenophobic attacks on Nigeria, particularly in Ghana and South Africa. Under his Speakership, important bills like the Petroleum Industry and Governance Bill (PIB) have been passed into law while the Constitution was amended after public hearings held across the six geo-political zones.

While Gbajabiamila has shone his pedigree on a national level at Abuja, he does not forget home. And he is not forgotten. Little wonder that the Speaker’s re-election happened safely. Representing the All Progressives Congress (APC),  Gbajabiamila won 19,717 votes, relegating his closest opponent, Bolaji Jeje, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to 5,121 votes, while Mathew Idowu of the Social Democratic Party had 838 votes; Benedicta Uba of Zenith Labour Party had 660 votes; Ademola Oshinaya of New Nigeria Peoples Party had 623 votes, and Lumumba Savage of Party A 337 votes. The result was just Surulere’s show of love for the Speaker.

Obadare writes from Lagos

By Dr lshmeal Emeka Udenka

“If there is any governorship candidate in the whole federation that is supposed to win March 18 election with ease, it is Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, the governor of Lagos State.”

Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu has without any iota of doubt brought great transformation to the state since his election in 2019.

Babajide Sanwo-Olu came with the vision of changing the face of the state, focusing on Traffic Management and Transportation, Health and Environment, Education and Technology, Making Lagos a 21st Century Economy, Entertainment and Tourism as well as Security and Governance.

Under the watch of Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, Lagos State has witnessed tremendous growth and development. 

At the peak of one of the ever greatest world health crisis, COVID 19 which caused a lot of lost of lives, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu provided great leadership when the State became the epicentre of the pandemic.

In the area of road construction, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu ensured that quality roads that will stand the test of time were constructed. Sanwo-Olu’s is being felt in all parts of Lagos State.

The transportation sector was not left behind. He opened the waterways under the Lagos intermodal transport systems and acquired additional modern ferries into the fleets of LAGFERRY to make commuting seamless across the mega city. 

The Lagos State Governor has proven beyond reasonable doubt that he is the best man for the job. This administration has a lot of ongoing projects that will make Lagos State one of the richest states in the world and his re-election is the only way the success of the projects will not be scuttled. 

On the hand, I appeal to all non indigenes especially the Igbos to vote Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for continuity. One good turn they say deserves another. 

When someone does a favour for you, you should do a favour for him in repayment; kindness should be rewarded with kindness.

–Dr lshmeal Emeka Udenka, The CEO Lucky Garden Property Investment Ltd, writes from Lagos.

What an irony! The operational network of a major bank has collapsed for over a week now. No customer can transfer a farthing of their own savings out to other banks. Neither can they fish out as much as one kobo for their own use through the bank’s  ATMs. Gripped with ignominy, the bank officials are helpless . Expectedly,  customers vent their anger on the officials.

Today, the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele has declared cashless banking a do-or-die affair.

He has directed the banks and CBN to mop up all available cash from the public. However, like the insatiable tomb that takes but never yields, Emefiele has refused to return people’s money. They should go cashless, electronic. Grannies. The disabled. Blind. Agberos. Petty traders with no more than N2,000 wares on their trays. The sick. Farmers who had never felt the air-condition of a bank on their cheek or the clattering of the computer keyboard in their ears. All these unbanked must open bank accounts TODAY! They should go electronic.

Seeing a windfall, POS operators quickly turned to cutthroats: N1,500 to collect N5,000. This weekend, someone paid N80,000 to cash N400,000 he needed to pay his daily-paid labourers. Many, in protest, threw away their dignity, stripping naked and weeping openly in banking halls. Somewhere bank staff turned to spiderman, clambering over high fences at the back to escape customers clogging the front of their cashless bank branches.

Despite the reports, Emefiele could not be bothered. His supporters organised pro-Emefiele marches. Some went to court to secure injunctions to back him up. For Emefiele’s intransigence, many suffer. Many have died, are dying and will die. Lack of cash has overnight turned Nigeria into a ghost town. It has not helped matters that apart from the cash dearth, there is no fuel and no business. But the man and his paymasters have decided not to care a hoot. The unidentified bank mentioned in the beginning of this essay  is a metaphor lost on Emefiele. Is this banking system ripe for a purely cashless economy or should it run a hybrid until banks are ready? The log in Emefiele’s eye will not let him see the answer blowing in the wind.

Since Emefiele took over the driving seat at CBN in July 2014, the Naira has fared the worst. From N190 per dollar, this undertaker has seen its devaluation to N750 today. General Buhari took power in May 2015, and the CBN Governor, who had outlived his original employer, Goodluck Jonathan, chose to wriggle his waist for the new Sheriff in town. In a most befuddling twist, defying even elementary economics of demand and supply, Emefiele immediately forbade banks from accepting foreign currencies over the counter. This strange policy made nonsense of commonsense. Starved of this fertile source of foreign exchange, the banks fell behind in supplying forex. As a result, the only source of legitimate forex was through the federal oil receipts, which dwindled, and the Black Market.

Quickly, the value of forex rose. That destroyed the value of the Naira. The local currency never recovered. It plunged into the bottomless pit, inching very close to N1,000 to the dollar at a point. It took Vice President Yemi Osinbajo a few weeks as Acting President to force the CBN to open the vaults and introduce a weekly window to make foreign exchange available for defending the suffering Naira. That helped. The Naira gained some weight.

At one point, Emefiele banned the payment of incoming dollars to local recipients. At another point, he reversed that policy so the banks began to give incentives for dollar incomes. Does this man know what he is doing?

Emefiele later took the fight to AbokiFX. In a most curious submission, Emefiele opened his buccal cavity on national TV and pronounced that AbokiFX, a site devoted to publishing the official and Black Market rates of the Naira in relation to other international currencies, had become persona non grata. Emefiele blacklisted the site and declared its London-based operators wanted for the devaluation of the Naira. Imagine Chelsea’s coach blaming his club’s poor play on the BBC commentator. AbokiFX humoured Emefiele. AbokiFX went off air. Thanks to this ingenious discovery of Emefiele’s, didn’t the Naira become N1 to $1?

At a point, Emefiele took the war to cryptocurrencies and got the government to ban cryptos. what business did the CBN have with an international digital currency over which it had no control?

Under him, the CBN printed billions of Naira untied to any productivity.

The real wahala

Emefiele went to chase shadows. How did Nigeria get the forex diarrhoea that kept the Naira shrunken? Government imports. That is the real wahala. The ministry of petroluem remains the sole importer of fuel into the country –via the NNPC. Colossal monies went into funding oil imports, in addition to substantial monies paid on subsidies. The keepers of these elephants eating up the forex ignored the elephant in the room and instead took to “shelltoxing” mere millipedes and ants. Nigeria continues to spend billions in forex to import fuel. This is a country with four refineries. None works. Instead the country shamelessly spends a yearly N120 billion to keep four idle refineries that yield zero cash returns.  kerosine,  officially prized at N50 , before Emefiele’s appointment as CBN governor,  now sells at N2,400, with expensive aviation fuel leading to an insane hike in airfares. Diesel today sells for N880, from the N195 Jonathan and his “fantastically corrupt” Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke left it in 2015. In 2022, the government spent N4.39 trillion on fuel subsidy.

In addition, round-tripping too has become a plague! The CBN sells dollars at the official N400-plus to acolytes. Such beneficiaries dispose of this at the Black Market rate of about N746 nowadays. They make a kill! Meanwhile, those industries that really need the foreign currencies must patronise the bureaux des change and Abokis on the streets for machine and raw material imports.

Redesign: ill-planned, ill-timed

Out of the blue, the CBN last October decided to redesign the Naira. No problem, countries do it. The policy demanded Nigerians to lodge their tons of cash with the banks, which would not immediately exchange the new Naira notes for the old ones. Then the CBN dropped the shocker. For whatever amount of cash deposited in the banks, Nigerians could retrieve only N20,000 per day and N100,000 a week. No one is spared in Emefiele’s capping of cash holdings –not even POS service providers, a new field opening up millions of employment opportunities.

However, the rationale behind the Naira redesign corrupted the entire affair. It would discourage payment of ransoms to kidnappers. That excuse amounts to the government indulging in reverse psychology. Kidnapping has grown into a full-fledged industry. The only thing left is for the government to tax ransoms. Yet the poor victim gets the blame? If you ban the payment of ransoms in Naira, why won’t kidnappers demand forex or the new notes? 

The other reason proved equally lame. It would stop vote buying. Na today? All that Emefiele spent on his doomed presidential ambition, how much went through e-money?

Apart from the politics, the Naira swap programme is clearly mired in CBN dereliction. It pans out as a half-baked venture that has unleashed a vortex of maddening confusion on the populace. For the N2 trillion notes returned to the banks, CBN has only produced N300 billion, a shortfall of N1.7 trillion.

This will only favour banks. Bank vaults and safes are bursting at the seams with recovered notes –useless from January 31 (shifted to February 10), the deadline set by ALMIGHTY Emefiele. You are taking money from people by fiat and refusing to return such. In volatile climes, that could spark a revolution.

It is the shortage that has brought hardship and confusion. The House of Representatives has pointed out to Emefiele Section 20 (3) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act that mandates the apex financial institution to redeem the face value of the recalled currency upon demand, even after the expiration of the notice of recall. In simple language, the Act says that after the expiration date, such Naira notes will no longer be legal tender, but months afterwards, even in June, any old notes presented to the banks shall be redeemed by the banks. He should borrow from the 2009 example of Professor Charles Soludo, who introduced polymer notes to replace the paper N5, N10, N20, and N50 notes. For a long time, both polymer and paper currencies served with no deadline.

POS machines as the new gold

Now, there will be the wildfire stampede to acquire POS machines. As of April last year, we had 1.1 million nationwide. Demand will drive up the prices. For a machine whose screw we do not even manufacture, its importation will soar. Yet someone is complaining that the Naira is deadbeat? Ask Emefiele. The man who should be guarding the Naira value is the one further killing it. POS and ATM-producing nations are smiling to the bank at our own expense.

If Emefiele’s aim is to replicate the Indian cashless example here, then we are off the mark. Unlike Nigeria, India is a technological and ICT giant. We are not. In that department, we are non-starters.

One government financial agency says about 99 percent of bank customers have less than N500,000 in their accounts. So, why are they the ones suffering? When the government can simply follow the money, why should a policy targeted at the bad 1 percent be executed in a way to punish the good 99 percent?

What about online fraud on individual’s personal and corporate accounts? Statistically, more money is stolen electronically than physically from bank accounts. How do you prevent that? Who bears the cost? What insurance has the CBN put in place to redress such incidents? What about power and network issues as happened to Zenith Bank lately? People can spend hours, sometimes days, pushing through a single transaction. Sometimes, unremitted but deducted sums take ages to revert. These constitute another log in the ostrich’s eye.

Lack of capacity

Simply put, this current problem stems from the fact that Emefiele, CBN and the banks have shown lack of capacity. This same tardiness Emefiele has inflicted on forex and the multiple policy somersaults the portfolio has suffered. Everything about the Naira redesign is a bad policy implemented badly! Timing. Deadlines. Datelines. Concept and conception. Logic. Support. Volume. Whatever the strength of the proposed system, Emefiele blew it. There are not enough minted notes. Get these notes out into the machines and POSs and you have a done deal. That should be the springboard for the policy. Create volume, capacity and circulation.

Meanwhile, if this cash mop-up was to discourage vote-buying, sorry o, Mr. Emefiele, you are coming into the game late. Since last year, politicians have been collecting PVC VINs, with (wait for it) ACCOUNT DETAILS! Legal and illegal payments will even be paid with ATM cards. So much for Emefiele’s cashless elections.

Back to the glitch in a major bank

Taking Nigeria into the cashless zone should not be a hard sell. If it is good, people will buy it as they have done in other countries that have demonstrated capacity and efficiency. Here in Nigeria, phone and internet penetration remains not just poor but erratic. Internet coverage is just 12 percent.

It is this needful backbone for e-banking that we must first get right. Right now, the unidentified bank’s e-banking glitch shows that we cannot put all our eggs in this cashless basket just yet.

 •Oboagwina, a commentator, writes from Lagos