The Supreme Court of Nigeria Punts on Naira Redesign Policy

Hahaha – Nigeria, what a country as the Supreme Court punts on the new naira policy: “The Supreme Court of Nigerian has adjourned the lawsuit instituted against the federal government by states opposed to the naira redesign policy to March 3 for judgment, a week after the presidential election.” You get the idea now. As usual, every president gets his desires in Nigeria, court or no court. Muhammadu Buhari runs Nigeria, PERIOD.

Three states: Kano, Kogi and Zamfara had on February 8, dragged the federal government to court over the February 10 deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes to be phased out. The suit, which has now been joined by seven other states namely; Lagos, Ondo, Ekiti, Kano, Sokoto, Ogun and Cross River, is seeking to stop the CBN from implementing the monetary policy.

The Supreme Court had earlier issued an ex parte order restraining the CBN from enforcing its February 10 deadline. But the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar Malami, had argued that the apex court has no jurisdiction to entertain the case because the applicants did not include the CBN in the suit.

(On March 3, the Federal Government could comply, but by then, it will be very late for the underground vaults to open, with money for election rigging)

Yet, I do not buy into the thesis of causing severe pain to citizens (with confirmed deaths) on the premise that it could eliminate election rigging. This policy confirms that the government is afraid of some people. If there are those doing criminal things, go after them, and stop destroying families and communities with a policy. This collateral damage is regrettable, as I received messages that even Ovim Oriendu Market is under stress due to lack of new Naira notes.

Some women who carry palm oil from Ezeukwu, trekking 5 hours to get to Oriendu Market, the largest market in the area, had to carry that palm oil back, because they could not find buyers to pay cash since most have no bank accounts. This is painful. Nigerians, we must learn from this and avoid repeating this mistake.

Comment on Feed

Comment 1: “As usual, every president gets his desires in Nigeria, court or no court.” I concur prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe

In terms of how a system ought to be, this move by the judiciary doesn’t sit quite well. Smirks of timidity of the law and of those who should enforce it.

On the bright side, if it can incapacitate, to a very large extent, the flow of money to maneuver the election and the electotorate, we can obtain a white agidi from a black pot.

Comment 2: Two things stand out for me as regards this post that concerns me.
1. If the candidate that this policy is presumed to favour is not declared the winner after the elections, would we then accept it as a free and fair election devoid of vote buying?
2. If the federal govt decide to comply a week after the presidential elections, does that mean they concent to vote buying during the gubernatorial elections? Considering it is rumoured that not only do some presidential candidates have huge sums of the old notes but most governors do too.

Comment 3: It’s not a problem of having bank account. What’s the use of having a bank account when transactions take days to complete? If you can’t get notification from your bank that your transaction has been approved or disapproved, how do you conduct business with a total stranger under such circumstance?

The problem is that the bank infrastructure lags. Most people are willing to accept transfers, but when a transfers take 3 to 4 days to approve, banks become useless as a medium of exchange.

Comment 4: Many people supporting this policy of pain and death think that this evil policy will railroad their candidate to Aso Rock.They should get a shock absorber ready.
Only evil people will support evil policy.
Currency redesign can be done without having to cause pain and anguish.

Comment 5: Sad to hear about the palm oil woman. That is so unfortunate. Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe this is a good time to use one of your portfolio fintechs to work on financial inclusion.

My Response: Indeed – it is painful. We’re sending tech but as you know, you cannot change people’s culture overnight. This is beyond tech. Some people want to hold that Naira on their wrapper because that is their life. They have a right to do that, digital or not.

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