Falana noted that the CBN’s naira redesign policy may be declared illegal if challenged in court.
By Jeffrey Agbo
Rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari erred in law by single-handedly approving the redesign of naira notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
On October 26, the CBN said it would redesign the N200, N500, and N1,000 notes to take control of the currency in circulation.
Though the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said she wasn not consulted by the apex bank on the initiative, Buhari backed the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, saying he is fully in support of the policy.
However, Falana, in a statement on Sunday, said the President is expected to present a money bill to the National Assembly for approval before the actualisation of the policy.
“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 the public fund earmarked for the printing of the new naira notes,” the statement read.
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“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 or any alteration in the amount of such payment, issue or withdrawal…'”
Falana, who is also the chairman of Alliance on Surviving Covid-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), noted that the CBN’s naira redesign policy may be declared illegal if challenged in court.
“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,” he said.
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