On Tuesday, residents of Wadata ward on the banks of River Benue in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, woke up to a strange find at the police barracks in the area.
Many sacks of decaying money were found by residents of the area.
Those who saw the money said it comprised mainly of N200 and N500 notes which appeared to have been shredded and stuffed into the sacks where they calcified.
Word went round quickly about the strange find and before you know it, curious residents thronged the area to catch a glimpse of the money by themselves.
Expectedly, there were harsh words for whoever it is that is behind the decaying stash.
Since October when the CBN announced that it was redesigning the currency, there have been commentaries for and against it.
The CBN had in announcing the policy said the move was to enable it have control of the currency in circulation, manage inflation and tackle counterfeiting.
Governor of CBN, Godwin Emefiele, said currency management had faced several daunting challenges that had continued to escalate in scale and sophistication with attendant and unintended consequences for the integrity of both the CBN and the country.
“These challenges primarily include: Significant hoarding of banknotes by members of the public, with statistics showing that over 85 percent of currency in circulation are outside the vaults of commercial banks.
“To be more specific, as at the end of September 2022, available data at the CBN indicate that N2.73 trillion out of the N3.23 trillion currency in circulation, was outside the vaults of Commercial Banks across the country; and supposedly held by the public.
“Evidently, currency in circulation has more than doubled since 2015; rising from N1.46 trillion in December 2015 to N3.23 trillion in September 2022. This is a worrisome trend that cannot be allowed to continue.”
While there have always been suspicion that people have money buried in bunkers and hidden in other bizarre places, the figures given by the CBN for money outside of the banking system were startling.
It is unfathomable that in a country where 133 million people, more than half of the population, are monetarily poor, as revealed by a recent report, there are people who have money they do not have need for, rotting away.
Ever since the announcement by the CBN, there have been reports of money found in different places.
In November, the Sun Newspaper reported that bags of damaged Naira notes were found in a warehouse in an undisclosed location. The newspaper reported that in a video it was in possession of, some citizens were seen rummaging through the notes, in the hope of finding some good ones but they all appeared to have gone bad as a result of humidity.
Though not independently verified, a few weeks back, a video of a truck purportedly loaded with decayed money, found in one of the states, trended on the social media.
Some people have argued that the shredded and caked money isn’t stored money but old notes that have been destroyed by the CBN through briquetting and sold to recycling companies.
The CBN is yet to offer this explanation so it remains social media talk for now.
Until then, there are questions begging for answers: who owns this money? What were they planning to use it for? At what point we’re they going to use it? Where were they not checking to be sure it was still in good condition? Why did they allow it go bad? Why didn’t they give it to the needy or invest it?
Another question is what the security and anticorruption agencies are doing in view of these discoveries?
On the heels of the CBN announcement, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had said it would monitor the process and clampdown on naira hoarders.
We are yet to hear from the EFCC concerning these cash discoveries but it’ll be interesting to know if they’re carrying out investigation and and what the findings are.
Meantime, it’s Christmas season and rather than destroy hidden money or allow it go to waste, those in possession of such money can play Santa by giving it out to the needy, orphanages and people in IDPs camps.
