Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has revealed that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) collected about N3.2 trillion from customers and other sources but printed only N402 billion during its naira redesign policy.
Nigerians went through harrowing experience during the implementation of the policy which saw the apex bank try to phase out the old N200, N500 and N100 notes and replace them with new ones.
This was made known by Falana on Monday while speaking on a Channels Television programme, Sunrise Daily, where he berated the former CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, for the currency redesign earlier in the year which led to a scarcity of the naira currency at the time with the devastating effects on businesses and households.
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In response to these distressing events that followed the naira redesign policy, Falana said he took legal action by invoking the Freedom of Information Act, submitting a request to the Central Bank to disclose the exact amount of money that had been printed.
He said, “I had to write to the central bank under the Freedom of Information Act to know how much was printed.
“To my utter dismay the central bank collected about 3.2 trillion from customers and others the bank only printed 402 billion naira.’’
The human rights lawyer emphasised the urgency of utilizing the law to combat corruption and gather essential information to protect the interests of the people.
He added, “We must take advantage of the law and use the law to enforce corruption and get information to defend our people.’’