Falana berates CBN for bungling redesign policy, inciting citizens against banks

Human rights activist and legal luminary, Femi Falana has criticized the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for mismanaging the fallout from the Naira redesign policy.

Falana made this assertion on Tuesday, Fenruary 14 during an interview on Channels Television.

Nigerians across the country have been battling with the scarcity of new naira notes over the past weeks.

The development has led to queues at automated teller machine (ATM) points and protests in parts of the country.

The Lagos police command, on Monday, February 6, said it had uncovered a plan by some groups to unleash violence in the state.

In a statement, Benjamin Hundeyin, Lagos police spokesperson, said the groups planned to take advantage of the scarcity of the new naira notes.

Consequently, Falana, in the interview, accused the CBN of fuelling the uprising against banks due to the scarcity of new Naira notes.

He also frowned at the uncertainty caused by the intentional silence on CBN’s part over the deadline of the Naira swap.

READ ALSO:Falana’s group condemns fuel, cash scarcity, calls on Nigerians for nationwide protest

“The CBN appears to have incited the public against the banks whereas no new notes are being disbursed to the banks. Do you know in many states, banking operations only occur in their capitals? We disregard the pains of the citizens while talking of banking. Some banks have had to close down due to the safety of their staff.

“This programme was not thought out and many Nigerians embraced it initially for the purpose of eliminating vote-buying. There was no Committee to learn from the 1984 experience when the Buhari military junta gave just two weeks; many people committed suicide because they couldn’t collect their money,” Falana explained.

He also warned against flouting the Supreme Court’s ruling over the deadline of the Naira swap.

Falana further explained, “There is no statement from CBN directing the bank to comply with the Supreme Court judgement and whether it denies or not, the Mint and Print company is not in the position to flood the market with new notes.

“Unless you are calling for anarchy, no lawyer can say the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction. Once the court, rightly or wrongly, has granted an order, no lawyer can say it should not be adhered to because the CBN was not joined. One would have expected the CBN to issue a strongly-worded statement over the suspension of the deadline due to the current confusion amongst the people and the statement credited to the AGF Malami”, Falana posited.

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