N5,000 note: Sanusi at a crossroads

Events of the past week have no doubt proved that in any democracy, sovereignty ultimately belongs to the people. Before then, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, was all airs, carrying on as if nothing on earth would stop him from going ahead to implement the apex bank’s planned restructuring of the nation’s currency, the Naira. When last week, members of the National Assembly resumed from their annual vacation and joined the action to stop Sanusi, the event immediately assumed a new dimension. Now, President Goodluck Jonathan, who was reported to have approved the implementation of the new naira policy earlier, has finally succumbed to public pressure and made a U-turn on the matter as he has directed the suspension of the implementation of the policy by the CBN for now.

The new naira regime as envisaged by the CBN involves the introduction, for the first time, in the nation’s history N5,000 banknote; N5, N10 and N20 coins while other denominations would experience significant changes in their features. The project, which was codenamed ‘Project Cure’, according to Sanusi, hopes to ultimately change the naira currency structure to 12, comprising six coins and six banknote denominations. The first quarter of next year had been planned for its introduction.

According to the accounts of the CBN governor, he had as far back as December last year, received President Goodluck Jonathan’s nod for the project. Expectedly, this was after the board of the apex bank had first given the go-ahead for the new plan. Sanusi had as well got the authorisation of the Federal Executive Council on the matter sometime last month. This was in addition to the approval of the National Economic Council received sometime within the year.

For those who dared to question the audacity of the CBN governor to embark on the project, Sanusi was quick to explain that his strength was derived from the Central Bank of Nigeria Act No. 63 of 2007, which gives the governor the powers over the management of the nation’s currency. This includes the power to print new currencies, restructure the existing ones and introduce fresh currencies.

As Nigerians busied themselves, engaging in public debate over the desirability or otherwise of the restructuring, particularly the new N5,000 note, Sanusi was reported to be putting finishing touches to ensure that the naira notes rolled out in the first quarter of next year as planned. Interestingly, one of the internet news service providers reported that samples of the new N5,000 note were already on circulation ahead of the planned launch date.

Sanusi carried on with the intended naira restructuring despite the vociferous opposition that trailed his actions. For instance, besides the opposition from Nigeria’s two former heads of state, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Dr. Yakubu Gowon, who openly advised against the planned new naira regime, other well meaning Nigerians also joined in the vanguard to oppose the policy. This included professional associations and civil society groups, among which were the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), the organised labour, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA). Many others also lent their voices in opposition to the move. In addition, a civil society organisation, the “Anti-Corruption Network”, had cause to storm the CBN, to protest the proposed currency restructuring exercise, particularly the introduction of the N5,000 note, and asked the Federal Government and the regulatory banking institution to stop forthwith arrangements on the exercise in view of what it termed its likely negative socio-economic impact on ordinary citizenry.

Not even the prompt intervention by members of the National Assembly, who were then on their annual vacation, could persuade the CBN governor to back down on the project.

However, as the lawmakers resumed from their break last week Tuesday, there were no doubts in their minds that the National Assembly was the last hope of the Nigerian people on the issue. On the first day of their resumption, while members of the House of Representatives debated the matter and resolved to invite Sanusi to appear before them to throw light on the project, their counterparts from the Senate took a different and more decisive line of action.

To really underscore the importance of the issue, the Senate devoted the entire day to deliberate on the matter. The traditional welcome address by the Senate President, which is usually delivered on the first day of resumption, was also put in abeyance. Relying on Order 52 of the Senate standing rules, the upper parliament had to dispense its procedure requiring a one-day notice to commence debate same day on the motion by Senator Eta Inang (Akwa Ibom North-East) on the new N5,000 denomination and the re-denomination of the rest naira. To further underscore the importance of the issue, the motion by Inang on the naira restructuring would go down in the history of the Senate as one that enjoyed the support of all the 109 senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The obviously enraged lawmakers could not conceal their anger as they took turns to rain invectives on the CBN governor. Just to demonstrate how livid they were with rage over the actions of Sanusi, at the end of the day, the senators decided that they would not accord the CBN governor the privilege of appearing before them to explain his position on the matter as was contained in one of the prayers of the motion. Instead, the lawmakers decided to deal with President Goodluck Jonthan, Sanusi’s boss, directly by directing the President to order the immediate stoppage of further actions on the proposed currency restructuring.

While the other senators approached the issue from different directions, particularly on legal angle, it was Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who actually hit the nail on the head. For Ekweremadu, the action of Sanusi was nothing short of a threat to the sovereignty of the nation. His argument was that since in every democracy sovereignty belongs to the people, and in the instant case the people of Nigeria had unequivocally rejected the proposal, the action of Sanusi in going ahead to implement the policy amounted to nothing but challenging the sovereignty of the people and the country. He also attacked the issue on religious and moral grounds when he noted that the voice of the people is the voice of God, the people have said that they do not want the policy.

Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma Egba, observed that in every democracy, no matter how strongly anybody believes in a policy or an issue he/she can never claim a monopoly of knowledge or wisdom. According to him, monopoly of knowledge, monopoly of wisdom is strange to democracy. “Even if the policy were to be for the good of the people and the people say we don’t want it, it is their right to even reject what is good for them,” the lawmaker said, noting that, “This is one moment that our policy makers must listen to every Nigerian, even the Nigerian in the street.”

He said while not pretending to be an economist, it was on record that, “former heads of state of the country have spoken against it. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has spoken against this policy, and recently, the very respected Yakubu Gowon spoke against it. They may not be economists as alluded but with their knowledge or lack of economic knowledge, they managed the economy of this country for many years. We must listen to them.”

Ndoma-Egba pointed out in his contribution to the motion that, they (senators) must reaffirm their commitments to the fight against corruption, noting that, “we cannot in one breath say we are committed to the fight against corruption and in the same breath, we make it convenient for people to move about with millions of naira in their pockets.”

It was Senator Ahmed Lawan, who raised the issue of illegality on the part of the CBN governor when he cited section 4 (2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which confers on the National Assembly the powers to make laws for the good governance of the entire country, including the powers to legislate on the nation’s currency coinage, promissory notes and all legal tenders.

Section 4(2) says that, “The National Assembly shall have power to make laws for the peace, order and good governance of the federation or any part thereof with respect to any matter, including in the exclusive legislative list set out in part 1 of the second schedule to this constitution.”

The argument of Lawan was that granted that the CBN Act confers on the apex bank governor, the authority to manage the nation’s currencies, the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the country still requires the CBN governor to carry out such functions under the supervision of the National Assembly, and such functions is only to the extent allowed by the National Assembly.

The other senators who made contributions to the motion all spoke in one voice in condemning the stubbornness of the CBN governor in the way and manner he insisted on going about the implementation of the new naira regime without regard to the views of the majority of Nigerians who are opposed to the policy.

It was, indeed, the Senate President who captured the position of the senators when he said in his remarks shortly before the Senate passed a resolution on the matter that, “I think the important thing is if Nigerians say they do not want a particular policy at a given moment, there is no harm in government in retracing her stand on the issue.

“I have listened to arguments of those who support it but those arguments appear to me not convincing; they appear to me to be highly theoretical, technical in nature and they do not address any practical issues on the ground because any economic policy that does not address issues directly but just talking about indices that you cannot verify, I think for now should wait because we have not reached that level.

“We are just talking about hypothetical thesis all the time. I think the disadvantage of the introduction of the N5000 note at the moment far out-weighs not introducing it, and on balance we should not go for it.

“Also from the contributions on the floor, we are in support of the fact that the timing is wrong, the policy is unnecessary at the moment and the arguments at the moment being advanced are not convincing and there is no urgent need for it to take place now.”

In its only one resolution on the motion, the Senate resolved and “urged the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and the CBN to stop all actions on the issuance of the proposed N5,000 note and all matters connected therewith.”

Following the transmission of the Senate resolution to the President, he promptly “directed that the implementation of the new N5,000 note be suspended for now”. According to a statement by the presidential spokesperson, Reuben Abati, this is “to enable the apex bank to do more in terms of enabling Nigerians understand why it proposed it in the first place”.

This, no doubt, signifies the triumph of the will of the people over dictatorship. Now that the Nigerian people have spoken on the matter and expressed their opposition to the policy through their elected representatives, would the CBN governor be humble enough to swallow the humble pie by finally jettisoning the proposed currency restructuring, otherwise christened project cure?

Credit: National Mirror