'Policy championed by the CBN has failed' - Akeredolu's open letter to Buhari

Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately rescind his decision on the new naira policy.

In an open letter written to the president, Akeredolu said this is a crucial moment for the country and the implementation of the new policy championed by the Central Bank of Nigeria has failed.

The governor said that the president must take it upon himself and save Nigeria and her people from more crises and Nigerians are currently suffering due to the implementation of the new naira notes.

He said that there is no shame whatsoever in repelling the policy as it has already caused more pain than good to the people of Nigeria.

Read his letter below

The crises engendered by the policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria to redesign some currency notes, threaten to disrupt, not only the forthcoming general elections.

The events of the past days, culminating in the intervention of the apex court in the land, and the increasing gale of violence sweeping through the country, portend serious danger to the current democratic governance. Consequently, this period invites all patriots to speak out with a view to proffering practicable solutions and not project cheap partisan interests.

I seize this opportunity to appeal to the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, to play the role of a Statesman at this crucial moment. It is apparent that the crises, which the current policy on currency swaps has created, continue to spiral menacingly.

There is incontrovertible evidence bordering on miscalculation, error of judgement and/or disinformation on the part of the policymakers, especially the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Emefiele, on the failed implementation of the policy, the effect of which compels the whole country to groan, immeasurably, at present.

There is hardly anyone who contends with either the statutory functions of the Central Bank of Nigeria or the occupier of the office of its Governor, one of which is the monetary policy. It is also not debatable that the President and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria are empowered, under our law, to exercise certain executive power. It can, however, not be the original intendment of the drafters of the relevant statutes that the implementation of any policy should occasion widespread hardship and pervasive agony in the land.

The safety of the people is the supreme law. Any measure, purportedly designed to ameliorate their conditions, must not reduce the entire populace to a beggarly existence.

There is pervasive discontent in the land. A policy, presented as a currency swap, must not be construed by both the reasonable members and people of average intelligence in the society to convey the deplorable impression of contrived subterfuge manifest in the official confiscation of legitimate deposits of the people in banks, as a countermeasure against electoral malfeasance, terrorism and banditry.

Desirable as the policy appears to be, its implementation excites curiosity as regards the real motive of its drivers, especially at this time when the conduct of general elections is almost here. The mere knowledge that the N1000 and N500 notes represented 82% of the currency in circulation and that the N200 note, whose validity has been extended, by fiat, for another 60 days, represented 7%, expose the mendacious slant in the advice given to Mr President.

This counsel clearly misrepresented, deliberately, the facts as they existed before the commencement of the implementation of the policy.

NBA