On Monday, Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu said that Muhammadu Buhari’s plan to change the Naira will be looked at again.
This is what Tinubu said in his first speech as the 16th president of Nigeria at Eagles Square in Abuja.
The president said that the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) decision to redesign the Naira did not take into account how many Nigerians do not have bank accounts.
“Monetary policy needs to be cleaned up from top to bottom. The Central Bank must try to get a single exchange rate for all currencies. This will stop money from being used for arbitrage and put it towards real investments in plants, equipment, and jobs that keep the real economy going, Tinubu said.
“Interest rates need to go down so that people will spend and buy more, which will keep the economy at a better level. No matter how good the idea was, the CBN was too tough with the cash swap because so many Nigerians don’t have bank accounts.
“The policy will be looked at again. In the meantime, my government will accept both of them as legal currency.”
In February, Buhari said that only the old 200 naira note will be legal until December 2023. He said that the old 500 and 1000 naira notes are no longer legal.
But in March, the Supreme Court found fault with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) policy to remake the naira. The court said that the naira notes change was illegal and against the 1999 Constitution.
Even though the order was given, there was a lack of cash in all states and the FCT, and business stopped.
Due to the lack of cash and Buhari’s quiet, many people thought that CBN governor Godwin Emefiele was following the President’s order not to listen to the Supreme Court.
Later, the Presidency said that former President Buhari did not tell the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ignore the Supreme Court’s order about the legality of naira notes.
“Since the President took office in 2015, he has never told anyone to go against a court decision. He strongly believes that we can’t have democracy without the rule of law, and his government hasn’t changed its commitment to this idea.
“In light of the ongoing heated debate about the legality of the old currency notes, the Presidency wants to make it clear that President Buhari has not done anything on purpose to interfere with or get in the way of the administration of justice,” the statement said.