Naira Scarcity: Use Supreme Court Judgment To Ease Nigerians’ Ordeal, Olubadan Tells Federal Govt

The Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba  Lekan Balogun, Alli Okunmade II has urged the federal government to use the opportunity of the Supreme Court judgment that extended the legality of old currency notes till the 31st December this year to ease the pains and tension in the country.

The monarch praised the Supreme Court for standing by the people at this critical moment when living was becoming extremely difficult for ordinary citizens.

The federal government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had fixed  10th February as the deadline for the validity of the redesigned naira notes of N1,000, N500 and N200 for which some of the state governors had approached the court and for which the court had given two adjournments.

At the first hearing of the case on  8th February, the court ruled against the 10th February deadline which brought a great deal of relief to the people and eased tension in the land.

The CBN, however, did not obey the ruling, insisting to uphold the deadline hitherto set. As a form of palliative however, the FG later announced the extension of the validity of the old N200 note till the end of April this year.

Reacting to Friday’s judgment which made all the old naira notes valid till the end of this year, Oba Balogun said, “It is a great opportunity for the federal government to bring succour to the people by releasing money to the populace.

‘’The last couple of weeks were too traumatic for the people and it is hoped that the Supreme Court judgment would be a platform to lean on by the government to ease the pains in the land”.

Recalling the twin problems of hike in fuel pump price and cash crunch occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy and naira redesign policy respectively almost at the same time, the first class monarch noted that the two policies resulted in excruciating pains for the people, adding, “I felt deep pains seeing people queuing up at filling stations and banks at the same time.