A coalition of Civil Society Organisations, CSOs, has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to publish details of the amount of the redesigned Naira notes disbursed to commercial banks.
Recall that the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele had on February 15, accused some politicians of hoarding the redesigned notes.
The governor said the mop-up of notes by politicians has contributed to the lengthy queues at banking halls and Automated Teller Machines, ATMs, as citizens struggle to lay their hands on the new naira.
But while addressing newsmen in Abuja on the state of the nation on Monday, the coalition called on the Federal Government to direct security and anti-graft agencies to remove the money allegedly kept in the homes and offices of the few people.
The coalition, comprising no fewer than 38 CSOs including Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, Say no Campaign, Centre for Democracy and Development, CDD, Connected Development Budget; among others, were represented by Auwal Rafsanjani, Executive Director CISLAC, Dr Tobi Okuwatoba, Head of CJID, Dr Ibrahim Zikirullahi, CEO CHRICED and Jaye Kaskiya among others.
The CSOs said: ”The federal government has alleged that some people were keeping billions of old Naira notes in well-known places.
”The government should direct security and anti-graft agencies to remove the money allegedly kept in the homes and offices of the few people.
“After all, operatives of the State Security Services invaded the residences of alleged corrupt Judges in October 2016 and carted away thousands of dollars and millions of Naira.
“To safeguard our democracy and protect the working and living conditions of our people, we call on the Federal Government to put in place measures to ensure that the suffering of the Nigerian people is eliminated and make citizens have access to cash,” they said.
They also urged the Federal Government to make available the lower denominations of the naira for the operations and convenience of citizens.
The CSOs expressed concern over the cracking down of protest, adding that the culture of protest should be respected in a democracy, as it is the voice of the people.
