Falana exposes financial discrepancies in CBN’s currency redesign
Prominent Nigerian Senior Advocate, Femi Falana, has exposed a significant financial inconsistency in the Central Bank of Nigeria’s currency redesign, shedding light on a discrepancy between funds collected and currency printed. During a discussion on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, Falana criticized former central bank governor, Godwin Emefiele, for implementing the redesign earlier in the year, which resulted in a shortage of the naira currency.
Responding to the concerning aftermath of the currency redesign policy, Falana explained that he resorted to legal action by invoking the Freedom of Information Act. He submitted a request to the Central Bank, seeking disclosure of the exact amount of money printed in the process.
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“I had to write to the central bank under the Freedom of Information Act to know how much was printed. To my utter dismay, the central bank collected about 3.2 trillion Naira from customers and others, yet the bank only printed 402 billion Naira,” he revealed.
The human rights lawyer emphasized the imperative use of the law to combat corruption and obtain essential information to safeguard the interests of the people. He stated, “We must take advantage of the law and use it to combat corruption and acquire information to protect our people.”
During the same program, Falana also raised concerns about the federal character principle, particularly regarding the chairmen of two prominent anti-graft federal agencies in Nigeria, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
He argued that it goes against the principle for both chairmen to hail from the same geopolitical zone, suggesting that if the EFCC chairman is from the northern region, the ICPC chairman should come from the southern region. “If you are going to have the EFCC and the ICPC, the heads cannot come from the same zone,” he asserted.
