N5000 note: Senators threaten showdown with Sanusi

The majority of the senators, it was learnt, have agreed to co-sponsor a motion to be moved by one of their colleagues from the North-West against the planned currency change.   In a telephone interview with our correspondent, the Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Senator Kabiru Marafa (ANPP, Zamfara Central), […]

The majority of the senators, it was learnt, have agreed to co-sponsor a motion to be moved by one of their colleagues from the North-West against the planned currency change.

 

In a telephone interview with our correspondent, the Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Senator Kabiru Marafa (ANPP, Zamfara Central), said he is the one sponsoring the motion.

He said he had reached out to his colleagues, the majority of whom, he said, had agreed to co-sponsor the motion.

According to him, aside from failing to provide plausible reasons for introducing the N5,000 note, Sanusi has disregarded the directive by the Senator Bassey Otu-led Senate Committee on Banking, Currency, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, asking him  to suspend the policy.

Many senators are also said to have vowed to tackle President Goodluck Jonathan and his economic management team for endorsing the policy without the approval of the National Assembly.

Confirming this, Senator Marafa said: “This is not the first time the executive will be disregarding the resolutions of the National Assembly. The Senate once passed a resolution calling for the removal of the Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Bolanle Onogoruwa, but nothing was done. The House of Representatives also passed a resolution recommending the removal of the Director-General of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) Arunmah Oteh, but today the woman is still there.

“We’re looking at the relevant provisions of the constitution, and if the constitution says the executive have to discuss such a policy with us before endorsing it, now that they have failed to do that, then, we would consider it a breach of the constitution which is an impeachable offence. It is a slap on our face, the representatives of Nigerians, for the Federal Government to have endorsed the policy when Nigerians have objected to the policy.

This is an insult to Nigerians. Sanusi appears to be merely interested in giving out contracts to some people in government. Otherwise, let him tell Nigerians the rationale behind the introduction of the N5,000 note. It contradicts his cash-less policy because it would allow people to go about with much money. Sanusi is hiding under the CBN autonomy, forgetting that we made the law and we can repeal it. We will not hesitate to exhaust all the relevant extant laws to halt the introduction of the N5,000 note”.

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In the same  vein, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Ita Solomon Enang (PDP, Akwa Ibom North-East) yesterday told our correspondent on the telephone that he and many of his colleagues were vehemently against the introduction of the N5,000 note and they would stop at nothing to halt it.

Enang said the Senate would not fold its arms and watch the CBN’s helmsman impose on Nigerians, a policy allegedly sponsored by foreign institutions.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume (PDP, Borno South) also said he would join the forces against the introduction of the N5,000 note “mainly because Nigerians, whom we represent, are saying no to it”.

Last Friday, one of the frontline lawyers in the country, Yusuf Ali [SAN], bemoaned those criticizing the Central Bank of Nigeria [CBN] over the N5,000 note, saying they are only qualified to do so if they are well-informed about economics, accounting, fiscal and monetary policies as they relate to the economic system of the nation.

Speaking to our reporter on the telephone, Ali said “monetary and fiscal policies are very technical things. I think it depends on the caliber of people who are kicking against the N5,000 note being planned by the Central Bank of Nigeria, otherwise it is like when we are talking about Law issues and farmers are kicking against it or criticizing it. What do they know about it? What is their knowledge of law?

“Nigeria is a very funny country where people who have no knowledge about some things will be the ones criticizing it. I can only take people serious when they talk about this issue if they have knowledge of economics, accounting and fiscal policies as it relates to the economic system of the country.  Can you imagine the National Labour Congress kicking against it? What do they know about it? I think we should be concerned with who the people criticizing it are and what is their knowledge of economics as it relates to monetary and fiscal policies of the country.”

He also argued that the fact that the National Assembly was opposed to the introduction of the N5,000 note did not mean the decision by the CBN is not good for the nation’s economy. “How many of the people there understand the monetary issue that they are talking about? How many of them even understands the budget system?

Let us not deceive ourselves. We should not be doing head count of people who are against it. I think we should be concerned with whether these people are informed  and understand what the issue is all about, rather than just criticizing it.