Senator Muhammadu Ndume, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Army, warned that the naira redesign and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s cashless policy are severely hampering frontline troops’ operations. Speaking to journalists in Maiduguri on Saturday, February 4, he said soldiers are struggling to meet their basic daily needs because they cannot obtain cash in remote, insecure areas where the new currency and cashless measures limit access.
Ndume noted that, until now, soldiers could easily withdraw their daily stipends from ATMs and point‑of‑sale terminals, allowing them to sustain themselves despite the difficulty of delivering rations to the front lines. “Now a soldier spends hours queuing at an ATM or PoS when he should be discharging his duties,” he lamented, adding that this situation has dampened morale among the troops.
He challenged the claim that the policies are intended to curb terror financing, pointing out that terrorists have already obtained the new notes. Ndume called on the federal government and the CBN to ensure that troops can access cash conveniently, given the critical nature of their duties, and to make the new notes readily available everywhere at all times.
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