Money market activities peaked in April with a decision by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to change the polymer naira notes to paper notes.
Tunde Lemo, a deputy governor of the CBN, on April 12, announced that the apex bank would soon withdraw the polymer notes.
Lemo said the apex bank had discovered that the polymer notes were not durable as legal tender as they faded too soon.
He said that it was as result of the development that necessitated the need to change the polymer notes to paper notes.
The polymer notes are in N5, N10, N20 and N50 denominations.
Goddy Idaminabo, president of the Chartered Institute of Administration, described the CBN’s move to change the polymer to paper notes policy somersault.
Idaminabo said the impression the apex bank created when it introduced the polymer was that it would last longer than the paper notes, but the reverse was the case.
He advised the CBN to do proper home work before embarking on any policy change in future.
Idaminabo advised commercial banks to work harder to sustain the level of profitability achieved in 2012.
He suggested that the Federal Government should reduce its expenditure so that the single digit inflation rate could be maintained.
Rasaq Quadri, a former president of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), also advised the CBN against any policy inconsistency.
He said that the money the government wanted to use to print the paper notes should be diverted to more productive uses to create jobs.
Quadri said that the only way government could keep the inflation rate at a single digit was to encourage production of goods and services.
“When more goods are produced for both local consumption and export purposes, automatically inflation rate will finally come down to the lowest level”, he said.
Quadri said that the audited results of some banks showed the banks did well in terms of growth and profitability last year.
Some of the banks announced good returns on investments from their audited accounts for the year ended December 2012.
Guaranty Trust Bank proposed a dividend of N1.30 kobo per share, while Zenith Bank proposed N1.60 per share to shareholders.
Guaranty Trust Bank paid a dividend of N1.10 kobo per share in 2011, while Zenith Bank paid N1.20 kobo dividend in 2011.
