Nigeria’s Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, accused the FG of disregarding the Supreme Court order on the currency swap.
The House Speaker disclosed this in a statement on Thursday evening, after President’s Buhari order extending the use of old N200 notes.
He warned that it is not to the benefit of the country for the FG to act in ways that suggest a wanton disregard for the rule of Law.
Stress and Hardships: The speaker claimed that Nigerians are going through unnecessary hardships due to the consequences of a flawed implementation by the CBN, he said:
- “Nigerians are going through unnecessary hardships across the country, they spend hours queuing at banks and ATMs to receive stipends of their own money.
- “This situation is a consequence of the flawed implementation of the naira redesign policy by the CBN.
- “It is also a result of the decision made by Godwin Emefiele to refuse counsel, be guided by precedent or abide by the decisions of the supreme court.”
CBN ACT: He reminded that Section2 (3) of the CBN Act, provided statutory authority for the CBN to initiate and implement policies for the recall of the Nigerian currency, saying:
- “ The Bank shall have power if directed to do so by the President and after giving reasonable notice on that behalf, to call in any of its notes or coins on payment of the face value thereof and any note or coin to which a notice has been given.
- “There are three conditions precedent for the CBN to recall existing notes, the first is that the permission of the President must be obtained and the second is that reasonable notice shall be given and the 3rd is that the CBN shall pay the face value of the recalled currency.
- “It is evident that the CBN has failed woefully in its statutory obligation to pay the face value of the recalled currency in the form that is useful to citizens.
Rule of Law: He warned that the scarcity is a result of CBN’s poor policy implementation and warned that the FG should not disregard rule of law due to the Supreme Court’s ruling.
- “Scarcity happening because the CBN did not sufficiently replace the old currency if pulled out of circulation, creating an artificial scarcity that put significant additional pressure on the already epileptic electronic banking system, resulting in the near collapse of trade in the country.
- “President Buhari announced he has authorized the CBN to reintroduce N200 notes into circulation,
- “The decision still falls short of the order of the Supreme Court that old currencies remain legal tender pending the adjudication of a pending suit brought by the state government on the legality of the policy.
- “It is not to the benefit of the country for the FG to act in ways that suggest a wanton disregard for the rule of Law.”
What you should know
President Muhammed Buhari directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to extend the deadline for the use of old N200 notes till April 10, 2023.
During the broadcast, he stated that the naira scarcity being suffered by Nigerians is the fault of ‘unscrupulous officials’ in the banking industry, entrusted with the process of implementing the new monetary policy.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday affirmed that its order which temporarily barred the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from enforcing its February 10 deadline for the swapping of the old naira notes with the newly redesigned naira notes is still valid.
