The Minister of Works and Housing,
Babatunde Fashola (SAN), has said President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was not a direct affront on the Supreme Court.
Fashola stated this in reaction to a recent
statement made by the Chief Spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Festus Keyamo.
Recall that President Buhari had in a nationwide broadcast last Thursday said the old N200 be recirculated until April 10, 2023, while the old N500 and N1,000 cease to be legal tender.
But in an interview last Friday, Keyamo said Buhari disobeyed the ruling of the apex court with the pronouncement, adding that he would have advised the president to comply with the order.
The Minister of State, Labour, and Employment added that the president had good intentions for the naira redesign policy, but was wrongly advised to give the directive in a nationwide broadcast.
During an appearance on Television Continental on Sunday, Fashola said the president’s directive on the naira redesign policy was not a direct affront to the Supreme Court.
The minister stated that the president only took the step to help reduce the pains and sufferings of Nigerians who were becoming the unintended victims of the policy.
He added: “It seems to me that the Central Bank does not intend or contemplate a mop-up policy, it actually contemplates in my view, a swap of notes. The CBN may have overreached itself.”
Fashola said Nigeria changed notes some 15 years ago, stressing that it did not cause this much pain, but wondered why the present case was causing untold hardship.
, has said President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was not a direct affront on the Supreme Court.){kind=link}