Supreme Court set to Judgment Naira redesign today
The Supreme Court is set to today put to rest, the controversy surrounding the naira swap policy of the Nigeria’s apex bank (CBN).
The court had on February 22 fixed today for judgment in a suit by 17 states challenging the policy which has for months caused naira scarcity and untold hardship to Nigerians and their business.
This was after constituting a seven-member panel to entertain the suit and directing the plaintiffs ( the 17 states) to consolidate their briefs.
The plaintiffs are Kaduna, Kogi, Zamfara, Katsina, Lagos, Cross River, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo, Sokoto, Rivers, Kano, Niger, Jigawa, Nasarawa, Plateau and Abia states.
The defendants are the Federal Government, Edo and Bayelsa states.
In their separate cases that were consolidated, the plaintiffs argued that the policy was unconstitutional and should be voided.
Lawyer to Zamfara State Government, Abiodun Owonikoko, had before then prayed to the apex court to set aside President Muhammadu Buhari’s February 16 directive that only N200 old note should be in use.
Owonikoko, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria(SAN), added that the naira redesign policy was at variance with the provision of Section 17(2)(c) of the Constitution, which says the governmental actions shall be humane.