The House of Representatives has rejected the February 10 deadline for the phasing out of old currency notes announced by the Central Bank of Nigeria on Sunday.
The House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on New Naira Re-design and Naira Swap Policy on Sunday described the new date as a mere political gimmick to further deceive Nigerians and worsen their economic and social livelihood.
The development came as anger spread across the country over the scarcity of the new notes with several bank customers becoming stranded due to lack of access to the new notes. Retailers and traders have been rejecting the old notes amid long queues at ATM galleries across the country.
However, announcing the new deadline for the phasing out of the old N1,000, N500 and N200 notes on Sunday, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said President Buhari gave permission for the deadline to be extended to February 10 after his recent meeting with him.
He also gave additional seven days to enable Nigerians to deposit their old naira notes after it ceases to be legal tender on February 10.
The CBN had earlier fixed January 31 as the deadline for the exchange of old N1,000, N500 and N200 notes.
Before extending the deadline, the apex bank had refused to shift grounds despite coming under severe criticisms and significant pressure from the National Assembly, politicians, banks, customers, and key stakeholders.
The CBN governor had also failed to appear before the House four times, prompting the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, Tuesday, to declare his readiness to issue a warrant of arrest against him if he fails to appear before its committee last Thursday.
Gbajabiamila said the lawmakers would reconvene on Tuesday (tomorrow) to take an action against Emefiele and other bank chiefs who failed to honour the house’s summons.
Unimpressed by the new date, the Ad hoc committee, chaired by the Majority Leader, House of Representatives, Alhassan Ado Doguwa, rejected the extension, insisting that the CBN must comply with sections 20 sub 3, 4, and 5 of the CBN Act.
The Lower House, during its sitting last Tuesday, constituted the ad hoc committee to look into the issue.
Expressing his displeasure in a statement on Sunday, Doguwa said, “The 10-day extension for the exchange of the old naira notes is not the solution. We as a legislative committee with a constitutional mandate of the House, would only accept clear compliance with section 20 sub-section 3, 4, and 5 of the CBN Act and nothing more.
“Nigeria as a developing economy and a nascent democracy must respect the principle of the rule of law. And the House would go ahead to sign an arrest warrant to compel the CBN Governor to appear before the Ad hoc committee.”
According to him, under his chairmanship, the committee would continue its work until it gets the demands of Nigerians addressed in accordance with the laws of the land.
While describing the extension as a mere political gimmick to further deceive Nigerians and worsen their economic and social livelihood, Doguwa said the CBN governor must appear before or stand the risk of being arrested on the strength of legislative writs signed by the Speaker on Monday.
He also said the policy was capable of frustrating the forthcoming general elections.
“Security agencies and their operations especially at the state level are generally funded through cash advances and direct table payments of allowances to operatives during elections,” he said.
Speaking in the same tone, the Chief Executive Officer, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Dr Muda Yusuf, described the new deadline as grossly inadequate.
He said, “The 10 days and the grace period is grossly inadequate. What’s the rush about?”
He further warned that the short deadline could put a N100tn component of the national Gross Domestic Product at risk, particularly in the trade and commerce and agriculture sectors.
This came as the Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria also kicked against the 10 days. The council declared that five months extension should be the ideal period for the exchange of old naira notes for new ones.
The Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Shari’a in Nigeria, Nafi’u Baba-Ahmed, while addressing a press conference in Kaduna on Sunday, said five months extension would be the ideal period so as to accommodate rural dwellers who had no access to banks.
“We are in line with the National Assembly for five months for the old naira notes swap because people in the rural areas may have to travel. And There should be massive awareness of the naira swap,” he said.
Meanwhile, popular human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, observed that the CBN governor failed to put enough plans in place to ensure that the policy succeeds.
Falana in a message said, “Instead of preparing for the printing of new naira notes and distribution to the banks, Emefiele travelled out of the country. While he was away, the State Security Service declared him wanted for terrorism financing.
‘’In the absence of Emefiele, the members of the Board of the Central Bank of Nigeria had no information on the quantity of the new currency notes that had been printed.
However, Emefiele returned to the country after a month and was alleged to have been shielded from arrest by some senior military officers. Emefiele, who claimed that he was on his annual vacation, has been battling to make the new currency notes available to members of the public.
The lawyer also accused the President of failing to learn from the naira policy he initiated in 1984.
According to Falana, the change of the naira colour which was introduced by Buhari, who was the then military head of state, crippled the economy and led to untold hardship in the country.
“In 1984, the Buhari military junta changed the colour of the naira. In a country of 81 million people, bank customers and other citizens were given only two weeks to deposit old notes and replace them with new ones.
“The poor implementation of the policy caused untold hardships including loss of lives in many parts of the country,’’ he added.’’
Falana described as laughable the failure of the National Assembly to curtail the excesses of the apex bank, noting that all its resolutions were being ignored by the Central Bank, adding that the bank has been spending trillions of naira without appropriation.