Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, claimed on Sunday that the CBN adopted a currency confiscation strategy rather than the indicated currency swap program that had been endorsed by the president, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), for the redesign of the national currency.
According to The PUNCH, the naira issue got worse last Thursday when the President disregarded the supreme court and extended the use of old N200 notes while maintaining that previous N500 and N1,000 notes were still illegal.
In his state broadcast, Buhari urged Nigerians to deposit their old N500 and 1000 notes with the CBN and announced that the old N200 note would be legal money for the next 60 days, until April 10, 2023.
El-Rufai expressed his displeasure at Buhari’s broadcast and criticized the President for issuing a directive that he said violated the February 8 Supreme Court order prohibiting the Federal Government from stopping its cash swap policy on February 10.
The El-Rufai-led Kaduna government instructed ministries, departments, and organizations to accept payments in both the old and new naira notes in defiance of Buhari’s order that the old N1,000 and N500 have ceased to be legal money.
The state’s people were urged by the governor to keep using the previous naira notes.
The Kaduna governor, however, said in a series of tweets sent on his Twitter account on Sunday that the bank simply seized the money because it was in excess of what was allowed under the currency swap policy.
He wrote, “Currency redesign was approved by the President and announced. Currency recoloring resulted.
“Currency swap was envisaged by s.20(3) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act as approved by PMB. Swap means I take N100,000 to the bank in old notes & I receive N100,000 immediately in new notes. No more, no less.
“During implementation of the cash swap, the CBN withdrew over N2 trillion from circulation but printed only N400 billion, so in effect, currency confiscation was then unilaterally and unlawfully implemented by the CBN. Trade and exchange have collapsed. Human suffering, impoverishment and economic contraction resulted.
“The policy objective was derailed into a deliberate national fiasco to sabotage the elections in the name of preventing vote-buying. All efforts to get CBN to implement what was lawfully approved failed.
“Some State Governments had no choice but to approach the Supreme Court for adjudication. The APC as a party and the Progressive Governors Forum are unanimous that policy implementation must be reviewed, and full compliance of the subsisting ruling of the Supreme Court be observed until a final judgment on the suit instituted by the State Governments.”
[20/02, 07:48] +234 706 505 1949: PICTORIAL: Burnaboy, Tems and Rema dazzle at NBA halftime show
Nigerian international singers, Damini Ogulu, popularly known as Burnaboy, Tems and Rema, on Sunday evening thrilled spectators at the 2023 NBA half time show.
The Nigerian trio dazzled the crowd as they performed their hit songs at the event which was held at the Salt Lake City.
The Afrobeat-themed show opened with Burna Boy, who played hit songs “It’s Plenty” and “Anybody”. Coming after Burna was Rema, who hyped the crowd with his song “Calm down” and “Holiday”.
Tems closed things as she performed some of her songs “Crazy Tings” Free Mind” and her verses from Wizkid’s Essense and Future’s “Wait For U”
The show also had Burna Boy come out to perform a rendition of his Megahit “Last Last”.
