Politics
By Kennedy Nnamani
THE Kaduna State Government has welcomed the Supreme Court‘s decision extending the use of the old banknotes.
In a statement signed on Wednesday by Muyiwa Adekeye, Special Adviser to the Governor on media and communication, the Kaduna State Government thanked the apex court, describing the CBN’s deadline of February 10 as ill-considered.
The Kaduna State Government thanked the Supreme Court and appealed to the Federal Government to treat the ruling as an opportunity to relieve human suffering.
The statement reads in parts:
The Governments of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states were compelled to approach the Supreme Court to mitigate the needless stress imposed on ordinary people and their livelihoods by the ill-timed, incompetent planning and execution of an overnight cashless policy. It is noteworthy that no emergency justification has been advanced for this callous decision to deny people access to their deposited cash.
We have engaged extensively with the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria. This has included furnishing evidence-based demonstration of the threat to public welfare and economic activities by this myopic policy that would have been condemned as draconian and insensitive were it being pursued by an occupying power. It is not to the credit of a sovereign, democratic government that this level of suffering is being callously imposed when there is neither a compelling emergency situation nor clear benefits for citizens and the economy.
The Kaduna State Government hopes that a review of the cash swap policy would now be undertaken to fashion out a better implementation programme and timeline that provides enough currency notes (both old and new) for our citizens, prioritises public welfare and restores economic activity. Like other elected APC state governments, we have advised that this should be based on a whole of government approach that pulls together all the necessary institutions of the federal and state governments, and recognizes global best practices and reasonable timeline for implementation.
KN
Tags: Kennedy Nnamani Muyiwa Adekeye
