President Muhammadu Buhari had snubbed the order of the Supreme Court suspending the deadline for use of the old naira notes.
About 40 civil society organisations have expressed their displeasure over President Muhammadu Buhari's violation of a Supreme Court order halting the implementation of the naira redesign policy of the federal government.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is aggressively implementing a monetary policy that has sucked out old currency notes from circulation, far more than the supply of the newly redesigned ones to replace them.
The CBN had set 10 February as deadline to end N200, N500 and N1000 banknotes from circulation.
But on 8 February, a seven-member panel of the Supreme Court led by John Okoro ordered the suspension of the deadlines and directed the continued use of the old notes. The ruling followed a request by three state governments.
Last Thursday, in flagrant disregard for the Supreme Court ruling, Mr Buhari defiantly declared in a broadcast to the nation that the old N500 and N1000 notes had ceased to be valid. He only restored the validity of the old N200 notes.
In a state of the nation address on Monday, the 38 CSOs led by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) faulted the monetary policy "at a time Nigerians are grappling with fuel scarcity, insecurity of endemic proportions, galloping inflation and attendant stress on conditions and cost of living."
They said the policy exposes the "poor thinking in implementation, resulting in avoidable scarcity of the redesigned denominations of the currency."
Destructive culture of impunity
Reacting to the President's broadcast, the CSOs said Nigeria had faced lots of "destructive culture of impunity."
The organisations expressed shock that the executive arm of government disregards resolutions by the parliament, while it disobeys court orders.
"To make matters worse, the Federal Government has outright refused to, and even countermand, the pronouncement of the Supreme Court on the deadline for the status of the old denominations of the Naira as legal tender."
They reminded the government that democracy is premised on separation of powers between the three branches of government- executive, legislature and judiciary.
Describing Mr Buhari and the CBN governor's refusal to comply with the apex court ruling, the CSOs said their conduct "amounts not only to a clear and precipitate undermining of the rule of law, but also a wanton disregard for the principles of the separation of powers."
In their reaction to the state governors suit challenging the policy, the associations noted that the governors are "pretentiously posturing to be acting in the interest of the people."
Expressing concerns over the governors altruistic claim, the groups said, "Their taking sides with the people is a carefully organised deception as they have chosen to keep mute in situations of great suffering of the people."
They highlighted the "collapse of education, healthcare system, insecurity," among other issues where the governors kept sealed lips.
"It is convenient for the governors to challenge the President as their financial interests appears to be threatened and could mar their chances of rigging the elections through vote buying."
Demands
The CSOs asked the federal government to cushion the suffering of Nigerians as a result of the poor implementation of monetary policy.
They demanded that citizens must have "unfettered access to their money."
The organisations asked the federal government to "respect and uphold the pronouncement of the Supreme Court on the old denominations of the naira... "
They pointed out that the right of citizens to protest must be protected, adding "their legitimate anger must not be met with repression."
But they clarified that citizens' right to peaceful protest "should not be an excuse for the destruction of public or private property... "
"We call on the Presidency to uphold the rule of law, and not to take any steps that will further undermine the system of separation of powers between the branches of government.
"In this respect, we call for anyone who is implicated in disobeying the ruling of the Supreme Court court to face appropriate consequences in accordance with our constitution."
The statement was signed by:
Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Centre for Democratic Research and Training (CRDDERT), Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Socio-Economic Right and Accountability Project (SERAP), Zero-Corruption Coalition (ZCC) and Accountability Maternal New-born and Child Health in Nigeria (AMHiN).
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Others include: Partners on Electoral Reform, Women in Media Communication Initiative, African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), National Procurement Watch Platform, Say NO Campaign--Nigeria, Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civil Education (CHRICED), Social Action, Centre For Social Justice, 21st Century Community Empowerment for Youth Initiative, Borno Coalition for Democracy and Progress (BOCODEP), Alliance for Credible Elections (ACE), Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID}, Tax Justice and Governance Platform, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria, Women In Nigeria, African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development (Centre LSD), Praxis, Citizens For Development and Education, Women Advocate Research And Documentation Centre, Space for Change, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, OCCEN Nigeria, BudgiT Foundation, State of the Union (SOTU), Health Mother Earth Foundation, Femi Falana Chamber, HEDA Resource Centre, Conscience for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution, Connected Development (CODE) and Follow The Money.
