Popular human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana has stated that the newly redesigned nair notes could be declared illegal by a court of competent jurisdiction.
VANTAGE NEWS reports that the naira redesign was endorsed and has since been officially unveiled to Nigerians by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Recall that Nigeria’s apex bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on October 26 said it will redesign the N200, N500, and N1,000 notes to take control of the currency in circulation.
However, in a reaction through a statement released on Sunday, Falana said the President is constitutionally required to present a money bill to the National Assembly for approval before the actualisation of the naira redesign policy.
Falana added that official eendorsement by Buhari is not sufficient as the President is mandatorily required to present a Money Bill to the National Assembly for the withdrawal of the billions of Naira from the public fund earmarked for the printing of the new naira notes.
He noted that section 59 of the Constitution requires “an appropriation bill or supplementary bill including any other bill for the payment, issue or withdrawal from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any other public fund of the Federation of any money charged thereon or any alteration in the amount of such payment, issue or withdrawal…”
The statement reads, “On October 26, 2022, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele announced that the CBN would issue the redesigned N200, N500, and N1,000 notes, effective December 15, 2022. In kicking against the policy, the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed claimed that she was not consulted prior to the announcement.
“But President Muhammadu Buhari confirmed that he endorsed the redesign of the Naira in line with section 18 of the Central Bank Act. Indeed, the President has since unveiled the re-designed Naira Notes as proposed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“However, the official endorsement is not sufficient as the President is mandatorily required to present a Money Bill to the National Assembly for the withdrawal of the billions of Naira from public fund earmarked for the printing of the new Naira notes.
“Specifically, section 59 of the Constitution requires “an appropriation bill or supplementary bill including any other bill for the payment, issue or withdrawal from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any other public fund of the Federation of any money charged thereon thereon or any alteration in the amount of such payment, issue or withdrawal…”
“Since the fund for the printing of the new Naira notes is not captured in the 2022 Appropriation Bill the President is advised to prepare and present a supplementary bill to the National Assembly to authorize the withdrawal of public funds from any Account of the Federation for printing the new Naira notes. Otherwise, the printing of the new Naira without appropriation by the National Assembly may be declared illegal and unconstitutional if it is challenged in a court of competent jurisdiction.”
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