Naira Scarcity: Gbajabiamila faults Buhari’s pronouncement

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has described the pronouncement by President Muhammadu Buhari on the naira policy as “disregard” of rule of law because it is short of the order of the Supreme Court.

Mr Gbajabiamila said this on Thursday in a statement by his spokesperson, Lanre Lasisi.

On Thursday morning, Mr Buhari, in a nationwide broadcast, said he had instructed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to reintroduce the old N200 note until 10 April, while the old N1,000 and N500 had stopped being legal tender.

The Supreme Court had in an interim order on 8 February ordered the central bank to suspend the 10 February deadline on the currency, but the CBN disregarded the order and insisted on the deadline.

In the statement, Mr Gbajabiamila said the extension of the legal status of the N200 note is a step in the right direction, and he hopes it helps curb Nigerians’ suffering. He, however, noted that it is short of the directive of the Supreme Court.

He noted that the federal government could not afford situations that “suggest a wanton disregard for the rule of law.”

“It is not to the benefit of our country for the federal government to act in ways that suggest a wanton disregard for the rule of law. It will be better for us to strictly adhere to the court’s order in this matter pending the adjudication of the substantive suit,” he said.

Mr Gbajabiamila said the inability of the governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, to listen to counsel caused the scarcity of the naira.

He argued that if Mr Emefiele had followed section 20 of the CBN Act, the policy would have gone seamlessly.

“Citizens and visitors are experiencing grave and unnecessary hardship across our country. They spend hours and days queuing at banks and teller machines to receive stipends of their own money to afford life’s necessities.

“This situation is a consequence of the flawed implementation of the naira redesign policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). It is also the result of decisions made by the Central Bank’s Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, to refuse counsel, be guided by precedent or abide by the decisions of superior courts.”

According to the Speaker, 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 the citizens whose current suffering could have been avoided.

“The current scarcity of cash is happening because the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) did not sufficiently replace the old currency it pulled out of circulation across the country. This created an artificial scarcity that put significant additional pressure on the already epileptic electronic banking channels, resulting in a near-complete collapse of trade in the country,” he said.

The Supreme Court is due to hear the case filed by the governments of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara States on 22 February.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how seven other states, on Wednesday, joined the suit challenging the federal government’s decision on the new naira notes. Two other states, however, joined to oppose the suit.