Adesina asked the critics to create their own economy.
Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, has mocked Nigerians condemning the newly redesigned naira notes.
On October 26, Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), announced the plan by the apex bank to redesign the naira to control the supply of money and aid security agencies in tackling illicit financial flows.
The CBN governor had said the new notes would be in circulation from mid-December 2022.
However, many Nigerians have taken a swipe at the government for what they described as an unimpressive design.
The critics said the naira notes were not redesigned, adding that only their colours were changed. Some jokingly suggested that the government should have used Snapchat, a multimedia instant messaging app that is used to edit photos, instead of spending billions of naira on the new notes.
But in an article titled, ‘My Naira Note Is Newer Than Yours’ and shared on his official Facebook page on Thursday, Adesina asked the critics to create their own economy.
“They have tried to deride the new notes. Oh, it’s a mere coloring of the old ones with crayon. No rigour has gone into the exercise. Kidnappers will now start asking for ransom in hard currencies. Bla bla bla.
“They have an option: refuse to embrace the new notes, hoard the old ones, and continue presenting them as legal tender after January 31, next year. They will then have to create their own economy. Lol,” he wrote.
He added, “The deed is done. From December 15, the new notes swing in, and run parri-passu with the old ones till January 31 next year. What do the cornered rats do with their loot? Throw them away? Burn them? Or eat them, if possible?
“I have an advice for the possessors of these loots. The festive season is upon us. Become like Santa Claus, and begin to dish out monetary gifts. In bales and loads. Give to the poor, the needy, the aching, and the hurting. It was part of their patrimony, which you had appropriated. Simply return it to them. What does it profit a man, if he gains the whole cash, and the money becomes redundant? Become a do-gooder, at least between now and January ending. Who knows, you may even expiate, atone for your sins of larceny and plunder.
“As President Buhari launched the new naira notes last week, I remember a story he had told us in the early days of the administration in 2015. He had recounted how he changed colors of the naira in 1984, when he was military head of state, for the same reasons as listed above.”