Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice claim that the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) implementation of the naira redesign program has greatly decreased the number of kidnappings in the nation.
Remember that the CBN had been prevented from outlawing the use of the old naira notes N200, N500, and N1,000 as of February 10 by a seven-member panel of the Supreme Court chaired by John Okoro. Three states—Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara—filed an ex parte application, prompting the supreme court to issue the order.
However, Malami claimed in a recent interview with Radio Nigeria Kaduna, that there were advantages to the scheme that were not given the deserved attention.
Reacting to the ruling, Malami said: “I told you the case is still in court, we will obey the court order but we also have the right to explain to the court the positive sides of the policy. If you see the negative side of it, you have to see the positive sides. If these governors told the court the hardships experienced as a result of the policy, there are also some problems that the policy is solving.
“I gave you an example of insecurity. Immediately after this policy was introduced, the rampant kidnapping has drastically reduced. It also reduced the rate of corruption, therefore we have the right to go and explain to the court these positive sides. The court gave an order without listening to government’s side but it fixed 15 February to hear from the government.
“Everybody knows part of the reasons Nigerians elected President Muhammadu Buhari is to fight corruption and insecurity, and boost the economy. The policy was introduced considering these and we will ask the court to look at both sides of it.”
The redesign of the naira note has come with both advantages and disadvantages. There is rarely any case of kidnapping these days and politicians seem unsettled by the policy with is a good thing for us, the average citizens.
As for the disadvantages, people can hardly get cash at of the bank due to the scarcity of Naira notes brought by the redesign policy.