From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
A civil society group, Leadership Orientation and Basic Rights Advocacy Centre (LOBRAC), has thrown its full support for the Central Bank of Nigeria’s current demonetisation policy noting that such policy directive is needed at this point in time to curtail the spiralling inflation and mopping up of black monies domiciled in the private homes of corrupt public office holders.
Executive Director of LOBRAC Stanley Okafor, a lawyer and an Economist, Dr Ken Ezeokoye, and another lawyer, Obinna Asiegbu in a public lecture in Awka yesterday said the apex bank should be allowed to exercise its constitutional powers as enshrined in Sections 1(1), subsection 2 and Section 12 of the CBN Act as stipulated in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended which gives the apex bank the authority to not only ensure monetary and price stability in Nigeria but also the establishment of a Monetary Policy Committee saddled with the responsibility for formulating the monetary and credit facilities of the apex bank.
While noting that the implementation of the current policy has brought temporary pains and dislocation, the group said the present hardship will be momentary while the long-term benefits will eventually swallow its short-term pains.
“It must be noted that an intrinsic nature of demonetisation is short-term discomforts and financial shocks. Within the long term, these initial shocks are overcome and a stable economic and financial regime resumes. The long aims of the current policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria include the draining of excess liquidity from the system, strengthening of the value of the naira, control of worsening incidents of criminality and banditry etc. Above all, the government generally appears interested in ensuring national and sub-national elections devoid of money influence by big pocket politicians, and this particular, explains why some of them are throwing innuendos and crying to the courts” Okafor said.
The group also warned of the consequence of disobeying court orders in this scenario noting that the Supreme Court of Nigeria has in a number of recent cases made Pronouncements and Rulings on some of these topical issues confronting the country.