Naira Scarcity Affecting Military Operations – Ndume

The severe effects of the naira redesign and the cashless policy on the activities of troops at the front line have been called to attention by Senator Muhammadu Ndume, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Army.

“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 told newsmen in Maiduguri, Saturday, February 4.

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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,” he complained.

Senator Ndume noted that up until this point, troops could readily acquire daily stipends from ATMs and points of sale to meet their basic requirements and keep up their fighting spirit because the terrains of their operations prevented the delivery of their daily food to them.

“Now a soldier stays for hours on the ATM queue or PoS when he should discharging his duties at the front line, just to access the stipend,” he lamented, saying, “this situation has dampened the morale of the troops at the front line.”

Ndume picked holes in the claim that the policies are to plug the sources of terror financing and other security breaches, saying, “the terrorists have said that they are already in possession of the new notes.”

In light of the vital nature of the troops’ tasks, he urged the Federal Government and the CBN to set up procedures allowing the military to access their money easily. He also urged them to make the new notes widely available at all times.