KDSG to FG: Treat Supreme Court ruling as opportunity to relieve human suffering

The Kaduna State Government, KDSG, has appealed to the Federal authorities to treat the Supreme Court ruling of today, Wednesday February 8, as an opportunity to relieve human suffering.

The Supreme Court had in the ruling, extending the use of the old Naira notes, beyond what the Kaduna State Government described as “the ill-considered CBN deadline of 10 February 2023”, in a statement released this evening.

The statement signed by Special Adviser to Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai on Media & Communication, Muyiwa Adekeye, explained inter-alia: “The governments of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states were compelled to approach the Supreme Court to mitigate the needless stress imposed on ordinary people and their livelihoods by the ill-timed, incompetent planning and execution of an overnight cashless policy. It is noteworthy that no emergency justification has been advanced for this callous decision to deny people access to their deposited cash.

“We have engaged extensively with the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria. This has included furnishing evidence-based demonstration of the threat to public welfare and economic activities by this myopic policy that would have been condemned as draconian and insensitive were it being pursued by an occupying power. It is not to the credit of a sovereign, democratic government that this level of suffering is being callously imposed when there is neither a compelling emergency situation, nor clear benefits for citizens and the economy.

“The Kaduna State Government hopes that a review of the cash swap policy would now be undertaken to fashion out a better implementation programme and timeline that provides enough currency notes (both old and new) for our citizens, prioritizes public welfare and restores economic activity. Like other elected APC state governments, we have advised that this should be based on a whole of government approach that pulls together all the necessary institutions of the federal and state governments, and recognizes global best practices and reasonable timeline for implementation”.

×