President Muhammadu Buhari’s special adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, has claimed that the devaluation of the naira forced him to live on N20,000 for one week.
In an article titled “Living on a shoestring budget,” Adesina described how he has managed to survive in spite of the new naira scarcity that the CBN’s currency redesign has brought about in the nation.
We left Abuja on January 23 and traveled to Bauchi, Lagos, Senegal, Katsina, Kano, and Jigawa States, according to the author of the story. The day of return was the evening of January 31.
I didn’t want to be like the foolish cripple who was warned that war was coming but stayed put in the same place since January 31 was the last day that important naira denominations would be legal tender. So I sent the bank every penny I had after parking it all. I didn’t want my few resources to develop into something appropriate solely for the museum.
But after putting his old cash in the bank, he had trouble accessing the new ones, just like other Nigerians did.
He wrote: The Central Bank of Nigeria later secured a ten days extension of the deadline from President Muhammadu Buhari, which has now been further extended by a Supreme Court ruling. But it has not changed the fact that I’ve been spending the sum of N20,000 for one week, and I’m still spending it. Shoestring budget Yes, you are right. That’s what it is.
He continued: Major part of our Duty Tour Allowance (DTA) had been paid in old currency, so I’d deposited it in my bank right in Katsina. I returned to Abuja, almost in tabula rasa. Empty. I thought it was just a matter of going to my bank, and getting new currency notes. Whosai! Too optimistic.
For three days, I operated with just the N6,000 I had in my pocket. By Friday, it had shrunk to N2, 500.00. What a huge war chest!
You, a Special Adviser to President of the most populous country in Africa! Are you for real? Just N2,500.00 Well, those in government itch as well, and scratch as hard. That is what some people don?t know. The hen sweats, but its feathers make the sweat indiscernible. There was I, on a Friday, worth only N2, 500.00 in new notes, both home and abroad.
He disclosed calling his banker to explain his plight to him but the banker laughed at him.
He wrote: After seeing that I was serious, he said the best he could do was get N20,000.00 for me, through the Automated Teller Machine, which was his own entitlement for the day. Well, beggars cant be choosers, and half bread, as they say, is better than none.
I sent my driver to collect the money, and promptly cancelled all the engagements I had lined up for the weekend. When you stay in your house, watching football and making yourself happy, you need not spend much money, if at all.
He disclosed calling his banker to explain his plight to him but the banker laughed at him.
Adesina claimed that filling up his car’s nearly empty petrol tank was the first obstacle he had to overcome. He stated that it would cost roughly N15,000 to fill it up but he chose to purchase N8,000 worth of fuel instead.
I changed my demeanor from Friday till the following Wednesday and used force to stretch N12,000.00 as far as I could. Thankfully, there was plenty food at home. If not, I would eat groundnuts and drink garri. Why not, also The circumstances demanded that. Pragmatism. No gain without pain. He claimed it was my personal contribution to the achievement of a strategy that would undoubtedly benefit our nation.
Due to the Naira shortage, Adesina decried the attacks on banks and suggested that the situation will pass.
He wrote: This crisis will pass, and all will learn lessons if our leaders are magnanimous and pragmatic with the situation at hand.
Yes, this crisis will truly pass. And we will be the better for it, collectively and individually. Nothing will ever scare us again. We survived the Titanic. With God on our side, we will survive anything else.