Gumi soams FG over Naira redesign

Popular cleric, Sheik Ahmad Gumi, has slammed the Federal Government over the move to redesign the naira.

In a reaction on his Facebook page on Saturday, Gumi said that Nigerians living in rural areas would bear the brunt of the move. He also said that the timing of the redesign was not right.

Part of the piece, which he titled, ‘Changing the Naira: This is no time for economic kamikaze!’ read, “No matter how ingenious the hatchers may romanticize; the benefit will remain phantom since the reality on the ground is incongruous and it spells doom for the escapade.

“Eighty per cent of Nigerians especially rural people depend on cash transactions. A sudden change to a cashless or cash-starved society will mean pauperising them in a spate of a short time that could trigger – God Knows- an unprecedented socio-economic turmoil in this semi-skilled or unskilled population.

“This kind of program is not for a government that is in the throes of its demise. If there is any advantage of such adventures, it usually comes after many years of excruciating poverty and hardship which no well-meaning government should hand over such cruelty to another incoming government to manage. Had it been started in 2015, it could be logical since the same government will bear the consequence of its action.”