Financial and economic experts have lauded Friday’s judgement of the Supreme Court invalidating the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The apex court had invalidated the naira redesign policy, ordering that all old notes must remain legal tender till December 31.
In an interview on Saturday in Ibadan, a financial expert, Lolade Adesola, said she believed the policy was “politically minded to curb vote-buying”.
Ms Adesola said, “But apart from that, there is no reason again for us to rush things. The Supreme Court’s judgement is, no doubt, good.”
Also, an economic expert, Samson Olalere, said those insinuating that the policy targeted the presidential and National Assembly elections could now be absolved.
“I see the judgement as a political judgement. They just wanted peace to reign, knowing that CBN, too, was not ready because they didn’t have the new notes.
“So, the best thing to mitigate this issue is for the court to give a judgement that will ease the pains of the people,” Mr Olalere said.
Commenting, an ex-banker, Philip Aragbada, said CBN must obey the judgement lest the apex bank commits an offence that could destabilise the nation.
“For anybody to disrespect the final judgement of the Supreme Court is a very serious thing that can lead to anarchy; even a layman knows that in any country.
“By this judgment, the CBN governor is bound to obey the judgment so that he will not be indicted,” Mr Aragbada said.
The Supreme Court had, in its judgement, said, “a policy of this magnitude should not be taken without consultation and must be in line with the global best practices”.
In the judgement delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, on behalf of a panel of seven justices, it said:
“I, therefore, hold that no reasonable notice was given and therefore, declared the policy to be invalid.
“The imposition of a limit after collecting the old notes constitutes an illegal appropriation of private property,” the apex ruled.
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