TEXT OF THE PRESS CONFERENCE ADDRESSING THE STATE OF THE NATION BY CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS IN NIGERIA – Monday, 20th February 2023 ABUJA
* The severe existential crisis that has been plaguing Nigeria over the years has intensified in the last few weeks, stoked by the manifest inefficiencies of the government and the ruling class, which continue to compound the life of citizens and inexorably pointing towards a needless chaotic path that is inimical to the stability and progress of the country. The recent unfortunate chaos caused by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) drive, in the name of currency redesign, to railroad Nigeria into a cashless economy has further unleashed unimaginable hardship on the majority of citizens.
* The exercise was unleashed at a time that Nigerian citizens are reeling from the effects of contrived fuel scarcity, insecurity of endemic proportions, galloping inflation and attendant stress on conditions and cost of living. It needs to emphasized that the Naira redesign exercise has exposed the poor thinking in implementation, resulting in avoidable scarcity of the redesigned denominations of the currency – N200, N500 and N1,000 notes; opportunistic hoarding and diversions by banks; profiteering practices by POS operators, filling stations and bank officials; denial to citizens of access to their own funds to meet their basic needs of food and health; and, a potential threat to inclusive and participatory democracy despite the registration of large number of voters across Nigeria. The events of the last few weeks appear as orchestrated political template aimed at undermining the very foundation of our national existence.
* There are disturbing signals from the posture of the Federal Government seem to suggest that Nigeria has a long way to go to combat the destructive culture of impunity. It is shocking that despite the provision of separation of powers in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), the Federal Government of Nigeria has continued to treat the opinions of the legislature in various resolutions of national importance with disdain. To make matters worse, the Federal Government has outright refused to, and even countermand, the pronouncement of the Supreme Court on the deadline for the status of the old denominations of the Naira as legal tender.
* It is necessary to remind the government that the practice of democracy is based on separation of powers, with coequal arms of government – the executive, legislature and judiciary, with defined constitutional powers – at national and subnational levels. This separation is meant to check excesses of each arm, guard against dictatorial tendencies through respect for the rule of law and sustenance of democracy. It is tragic that the government has chosen to set a bad example of disrespect for court orders and the rule of law.
* These acts by the Presidency and the Governor of the CBN, in flagrantly disobeying the ruling of the Supreme court on the issue of the deadline for the old currency being legal tender, amounts not only to a clear and precipitate undermining of the rule of law, but also a wanton disregard for the principles of the separation of powers at the heart of our constitutional democracy.
* Although the purveyors of the naira redesign policy and its precipitate implementation continue to point to the intended aim of curbing vote buying in the upcoming general elections, it is quite obvious from unfolding events in the country that the primary outcome of the implementation of the exercise is imposing avoidable and unnecessary hardships on the citizens across the country. The consequence of this is that the over-whelming majority of ordinary citizens, have now found themselves in a position of fiscal paralysis, with no access to cash, and without the ability to undertake unhindered transactions through digital platforms. The end result has been that small and medium businesses, in the informal sector, in particular, have been faced with unquantifiable losses, epileptic operations, sudden shut downs or have ground to a halt. Even large businesses in the formal sector, have not escaped the debilitating impact of the scarcity of cash, and the inability to undertake unhindered digital transactions.
* The combined effect of all of these has been amplified hardships, intensified price rises and inflation; further impoverishing the people, gravely undermining livelihoods, and grievously impacting the economy. The people, who the makers of the policy claim to be targeting, have been the least impacted by the Naira redesign exercise. The targeted minority of the Naira redesign exercise will continue to remain least affected because they have access to other currencies through which they can continue with their legitimate and illegitimate activities, including the targeted aim against the culture of vote buying during elections. It is important to bring to the attention of the Federal Government that the targeted minority are also super-connected to the banking and finance system, thus ensuring first line access to the new currencies, even in its limited supply.
* Although the Federal Government and CBN may continue to drum the value of the Naira redesign exercise to the economy, they have failed to take into account and respond with definite efficient solutions to ameliorate its malevolent effects on Nigerian citizens. The exercise has become anti-people, inducing resentment and anger against the government. The proof of how anti people the implementation of the exercise has become can be found in the increasingly loud groaning and grumblings of the ordinary people, tales of pain and anguish in the media, spreading outbursts of organised anger manifesting in waves of mass protests against the exercise and targeting banks for attacks across the country.
* It is worrisome some governors, have chosen to seize this moment and are pretentiously posturing to be acting in the interest of the people. Their taking sides with the people is a carefully organized deception as they have chosen to keep mute in situations of great suffering of the people. They have never sided with Nigerians against their continued suffering including collapse of education, healthcare system, insecurity and other terrible living conditions. It is convenient for the governors to challenge the President as their financial interests appears to be threatened and could mar their chances of rigging the elections through vote buying. Some of their remarks are full of deception and capable of truncating democracy in Nigeria.
* It is unacceptable that the government has resorted to high-handedness and cracking down on protestors for simply articulating their grievances as a result of the deprivations and pains imposed on them by the actions of the CBN. The culture of protest must be respected in a democracy as it is the voice of the people against unpopular actions of government and demand for effective for responsible governance. It is horrifying that instead of responding to the cries of the people in the face of government induced deprivations, pains and despair the oppressive machinery of the state was unleashed on protesting citizens resulting in avoidable killings. Government must take responsibility for deploying actions that lead citizens into discomfort and force them to come out in protest. The government must listen to the voice of the people.
* The Federal Government has said that a few Governors and other politicians are keeping billions of old Naira notes in well known places. Instead of imposing collective punishment on hapless Nigerians, the Federal Government should direct security and anti-graft agencies to remove the sums of money allegedly kept in the homes and offices of the few politicians. Afterall, 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.
* The CBN Governor, Mr Emefiele, has said that the billions of new Naira notes disbursed to the commercial banks have again been mopped up by the same set of corrupt politicians. We challenge the CBN to publish the amount of the new Naira notes disbursed to each commercial bank and the list of persons that collected the billions from the banks.
* In the circumstances, given the forgoing, we feel a bounden duty to collectively and publicly, as responsible citizens, and leaders of civil society to raise these issues, and call attention to the urgent need to tackle and address the issues forthwith.
*To safeguard our democracy, and protect the working and living conditions of our people, we make the following demands:
* The Federal Government must quickly put in place all measures to ensure that the suffering of the Nigerian people caused by the poor thinking and inefficiencies in the implementation of the Naira redesign exercise are eliminated. Citizens and businesses must have unfettered access to their money – access to cash, ability to undertake unhindered transactions through both non-digital and digital platforms – without further stress to meet their obligations to their families/dependents and businesses to enable them to live with less stress in an environment where citizens are reeling from the effects of contrived fuel scarcity, insecurity of endemic proportions and galloping inflation.
* The principle of separation of powers must be respected and the FG should respect and uphold the pronouncement of the Supreme Court on the old denominations of the Naira that it marked to be phased out as legal tender. It must also, in particular, make the lower denominations of the Naira available for the operations and convenience of citizens in the informal sector and small business operators who, by acts of omission of the FGN and CBN, have become the primary victims of the assumed well-intended Naira redesign exercise.
* The legitimate anger and concerns of ordinary citizens as the major victims of the ill-prepared and rushed implementation of the anti people policy, must be respected; their rights to protest must be protected, and their legitimate anger must not be met with repression. In this respect, we condemn the repression of protests, call for its cessation, and for the prosecution of security personnel who have brutalized, shot at, and or harassed citizens in the course of the unfolding protests.
* However, the right to peaceful assembly and protest should not be an excuse for the destruction of public or private property or the abuse of the fundamental rights of other citizens by protesters.
* We call on the executive branch of government, in particular the presidency and the CBN, to retrace their steps and immediately abide with the extant ruling and pronouncement of the Supreme Court on this matter. We call on the Presidency to uphold the rule of law, and not to take any steps that will further undermine the system of separation of powers between the branches of government. In this respect, we call for anyone who is implicated in disobeying the ruling of the supreme court to face appropriate consequences in accordance with our constitution.
* SIGNED:
* Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD)
* Centre for Democratic Research and Training (CRDDERT)
* Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC)
* Transition Monitoring Group (TMG)
* Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD)
* Socio-Economic Right and Accountability Project (SERAP)
* Zero-Corruption Coalition (ZCC)
* Accountability Maternal New-born and Child Health in Nigeria (AMHiN)
* Partners on Electoral Reform
* Women in Media Communication Initiative
* African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL)
* National Procurement Watch Platform
* Say NO Campaign—Nigeria
* Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civil Education (CHRICED)
* Social Action
* Centre For Social Justice
* 21st Century Community Empowerment for Youth Initiative
* Borno Coalition for Democracy and Progress (BOCODEP)
* Alliance for Credible Elections (ACE)
* Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID}
* Tax Justice and Governance Platform
* Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria
* Women In Nigeria
* African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development (Centre LSD)
* Praxis
* Citizens For Development and Education
* Women Advocate Research And Documentation Centre
* Space for Change
* Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa
* OCCEN Nigeria
* BudgiT Foundation
* State of the Union (SOTU)
* Health Mother Earth Foundation
* Femi Falana Chamber
* HEDA Resource Centre
* Conscience for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution
* Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre RULAAC
* Connected Development (CODE)
* Enough is Enough
* Fellow The Money
