Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to, as a matter of urgency, publicly direct the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to comply with the order of the Supreme Court in the suit on naira swap policy.
The group urged the president to “disclose details of the measures your government is taking to immediately and effectively obey the Supreme Court decision extending the validity of the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes, and directing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to continue to receive the notes from Nigerians.”
It said if this is not done within seven days of its notice and “if we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to compel your government to comply with our requests”.
The group in a letter dated 4 March, 2023 and signed by its deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organization said, “There is an overriding public interest in disclosing the details of the measures your government and the CBN are taking to effectively and satisfactorily obey the Supreme Court decision.”
SERAP urged him “to publicly instruct the CBN to immediately and effectively implement the Supreme Court decision ordering an end to the cash withdrawal limits imposed by banks because such restrictions violate citizens’ right to freely use their property.”
SERAP also urged him “to disclose the measures that your government is taking to direct the CBN to immediately re-circulate the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes, as ordered by the Supreme Court.”
According to SERAP, “Disclosing the measures that your government and the CBN are taking to implement the Supreme Court decision would also enable Nigerians to monitor and scrutinize the level of compliance with the decision.”
SERAP said, “The public should not be kept in the dark on what your government and the CBN are doing to implement the decision. Widely publishing the implementation measures would also improve accountability of state officials and public confidence in the rule of law and Nigeria’s democracy.”
