Naira scarcity: Akeredolu preaches policy review 


The crisis triggered by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) naira redesign policy is threatening to disrupt the forthcoming general elections, Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo state has alerted.

He said the events of the past days, culminating in the intervention of the apex court in the land, and the increasing gale of violence sweeping through the country portend serious danger to the current democratic governance. 

The governor stated in a message to the president said that this situation requires all patriots to speak out with a view to proffering practicable solutions and not project cheap partisan interests.

Akeredolu appealed to the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Muhammadu Buhari, to play the role of a statesman at this crucial moment.

He said it is apparent that the crises, which the current policy on currency swap has created, continue to spiral adding that there is incontrovertible evidence bordering on miscalculation, error of judgment and/or disinformation on the part of the policy makers, especially the governor of the CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele, on the failed implementation of the policy, the effect of which compels the whole country to groan, immeasurably.

 He said there is hardly anyone who contends with either the statutory functions of the CBN or the occupier of the office of its governor, one of which is the monetary policy. It is also not debatable that the President and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria is empowered, under our law, to exercise certain executive powers. 

Noting that it can, however, not be the original intention of the drafters of the relevant statutes that the implementation of any policy should occasion widespread hardship and pervasive agony in the land.