The Federal Government condemned opposition parties on Tuesday for seeking a court order to prevent President Muhammadu Buhari, a retired major general, from altering the deadline for the naira swap. The government accused the parties of politicising the issue and ignoring the hardships Nigerians face because of the cash crunch. The new naira initiative is a policy of the Federal Government.
On Monday, fourteen political parties warned they would boycott the February 25 election if the Central Bank of Nigeria extended the February 10 deadline for the currency swap, which it had previously announced. In response, a High Court in the Federal Capital Territory issued an injunction restraining the President, the CBN, its governor Godwin Emefiele, and 27 commercial banks from suspending, stopping, extending, or otherwise interfering with the swap’s terminal date. Justice E. Enenche handed down the order after an application by four political parties.
Speaking at the 23rd edition of the PMB Administration Scorecard Series (2015‑2023) in Abuja, Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed described the parties’ actions as unscrupulous. He recalled that after President Buhari’s meeting with the Progressive Governors’ Forum, the President asked citizens to give him a seven‑day window to resolve the currency crunch caused by the naira redesign policy. Yet, on Monday, opposition parties rushed to court to obtain an injunction preventing the President and the CBN from extending the February 10 deadline for exchanging old notes for new ones.
Mohammed said the court action followed threats by opposition parties to boycott the 2023 general election if the deadline were extended. He argued that these “curious actions” turned the issue into a political game, causing Nigerians to suffer more for the sake of “unconscionable political gamesmanship.” He questioned why the opposition would oppose any measure that could ease the pain of Nigerians and why they would legally hamstring the President from providing relief to those affected by the cash crunch.
The minister condemned putting the interests of desperate political parties above those of the people, calling it bad politics. Nonetheless, he affirmed that, despite the opposition’s antics, the government remains willing and able to take decisive steps to assist Nigerians as quickly as possible. Mohammed noted that the government is aware of the inconveniences caused by fuel supply disruptions and the recent redesign of some naira notes, and that it is working assiduously to restore normalcy to these critical economic enablers and to implement additional measures where necessary to alleviate Nigerians’ hardships.
Comments are closed for this story.