Wilson Adekumola
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige has declared that the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria has its own benefits, noting that despite the hardship occasioned by the policy, kidnappers and bandits are now on holiday.
Ngige made this known on Wednesday while featuring on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme, insisting that there were notable benefits Nigerians derived from the policy.
However, the minister affirmed that the policy brought pain to Nigerians because the implementation process was faulty.
He said, “The policy is not smooth in its implementation. I admitted that. But whether it is a good policy? Yes, it is a good policy.
“It wasn’t smooth; it came with some pain but overall, did we get some sound benefits from it? Yes, we did: people didn’t buy votes on the line (queue) during the elections.
“I used to go for elections and I know what I see. There was no cash exchange for votes. It wasn’t easy anymore. Kidnappers are on break, they are on strike so to say or recess. Bandits, they have also gone on holidays.”
While commenting on the issue of the suspended strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress, he noted that CBN has released cash into the society, promsing Nigerians the pain over naira scarcity would soon be a thing of the past soon.
