Legal practitioner Femi Adedeji has demanded that the Central Bank of Nigeria substantiate its claim that new naira notes were “mopped up” by politicians, warning that failure to do so will result in litigation. In a letter dated February 16, 2023 and titled “Request for information on disbursement of new naira notes to commercial banks,” Adedeji asked the apex bank to provide detailed information on the amounts disbursed to commercial banks, as well as a list of customers who received sums exceeding the authorized limit.
The letter states: “Our attention has been drawn to your statement wherein you claimed that some unnamed politicians have mopped up the new naira notes made available to all commercial banks by the Central Bank of Nigeria.” It goes on to request, “the amount of the designed notes of N200, N500 and N1,000 denominations made available to each commercial bank by the Central Bank of Nigeria,” and “the list of customers of the commercial banks who collected more than N100,000 approved by you from the commercial banks.”
Adedeji frames the request under the Freedom of Information Act 2011, giving the bank seven days from receipt of the letter to comply. He warns, “Take notice that if you fail or refuse to furnish us with the requested information before the deadline of 7 days we shall not hesitate to pray the Federal High Court to compel you to accede to our request.”
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