Reactions have continued to trail directives by President Mohammadu Buhari and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to commercial banks to dispense and accept the deposit of old Naira notes amid the raging currency crisis.
While some commended the President for finally breaking the prolonged brawl, others described it as belated, saying the delay on the part of government was a mark of irresponsibility.
A veteran journalist, Tony Okafor described the directive as victory for the rule of law, expressing optimism that Nigerians would no longer be subjected to excruciating pains ocasioned by new naira notes swap.
He also advised that Nigerian late-hour fire brigade approach to issues should be avoided in the present circumstance.
He said: “The directive is victory for the rule of law. No sane society, more so a democratic type, can survive without the rule of law and independence of the judicial.
“We commend the president and his CBN implementing agency for giving hope to democracy despite their delay in making that pronouncement.
“It’s now left to the Central Bank to make adequate arrangements for the gradual and systemic withdrawal of the old notes from circulation on or before 31st December deadline by ensuring the printing and adequate supply of the new notes.
“Nigerians cannot be subjected again to the excruciating pains they passed through during the new naira notes swap that lasted for months.
“It was a whole lot hell that nobody would want to pass through again. Besides, citizens should be fast to comply with the necessary guidelines that may be put in place by the CBN for the discontinuance of the old notes.”
It would be recalled that some eleven days ago, the Supreme Court of Nigeria held that the President, breached the constitution of Nigeria in the way he issued directive to the Central Bank of Nigeria for the redesign of the Naira without consulting with the National Council of States and the Federal Executive Council.
It went further to rule that the unconstitutional use of powers by the President on the Naira redesign has breached the fundamental rights of Nigerian citizens in the various ways.
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The state governors have persistently argued that the policy which permitted the CBN to place an embargo on the circulation of old N500 and N1000 notes without providing their replacement in sufficient amounts, had triggered severe cash shortage and chaos in the economy.
It has led to runaway inflation in food and other commodities. Huge crowds and long queues form around bank offices and ATM points across the country as people struggle to get the new cash which have remained extremely scarce. It has triggered riots and other forms of civil unrest.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) planned to order workers to sit at home if in seven days the Federal Government failed to address current cash crunch.
Its President, Joe Ajaero, made the declaration in Abuja at the end of an emergency meeting of the Central Working Committee of the union.
He noted that Nigerians had suffered enough from the cashless policy of the CBN.
Some Nigerians have lashed out at Buhari, saying he has supervised a terrible administration since 2015 and said that his ostrich method of hiding his head in the sand was symptomatic of a failed government under his watch.
“It is laughable that President Buhari turned around to heap the blame on the CBN governor and the AGF. We all know that the naira redesign policy was Buhari’s brainchild. He decided to shift the blame to appear good before those that were his origgi al target in the botched project. It all shows how deficient Nigeria is when it comes to leadership,” Sampsom Evi, a trained accountant, said.
