The decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under President Bola Tinubu to float the naira is illegal and being challenged in court, human rights lawyer Femi Falana has said.<\/p>\n
On June 14, at a time when the naira traded between 730 and 755 to the dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window, the apex bank reportedly told Deposit Money Banks to freely float the naira against the dollar and other international currencies.<\/p>\n
As of Friday, the CBN website puts the exchange rate between N744 and N746.<\/p>\n
But Falana, who appeared as a guest on Channels Television\u2019s Sunrise Daily Friday, said the CBN Act made it compulsory for the apex bank to fix the exchange rate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no provision for floating the naira. It\u2019s illegal. You say, \u2018The value of the naira will be determined by market forces.\u2019 That is not there in the law,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had to sue the Central Bank of Nigeria at the Federal High Court because Section 16 of the Central Bank Act has imposed a duty on the Central Bank to fix and determine the rate of the naira vis-a-vis other currency.\u201d<\/p>\n
He noted that Section 20(1) of the CBN Act provides that the y notes issued by the Central Bank: \u201conly the naira.\u201d<\/p>\n
Section 20 (5) of the Act also provides that anybody who spends any other currency in Nigeria without the approval of the central bank has committed an offence \u201cand shall be prosecuted\u201d, he explained, adding, \u201cThe penalty is six months\u2019 imprisonment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Falana argued further that as long as government officials are not prepared to strengthen the naira and make it the only legal tender in Nigeria, \u201cwe\u2019re not going to go far\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria also commented on the Federal Government\u2019s approval of N5 billion for each state and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).<\/p>\n
While the National Economic Council (NEC) said this enabled them to procure food items for distribution to the poor in their respective states, Falana argued that the measures were diversionary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are temporary measures. Some of them are quite diversionary and the people in government have not addressed the root of the crisis, which is the dollarisation of the economy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever palliatives that are announced will be eaten up by dollarisation of the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n
(CHANNELS)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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