Sandra Nwaokolo
The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, and the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, have expressed divergent views over President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive to recirculate the old N200 until April 10, 2023, while the old N500 and N1,000 notes cease to be legal tender.
Keyamo had faulted the President’s directive, stating that it was made against the Supreme Court’s order to recirculate all the old notes until a decision was made.
However, Fashola, who is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, has disagreed with his colleague, stating that the President’s directive was not a direct affront to the Supreme Court.
He explained that the President decided to ease the hardships that Nigerians were facing due to the policy.
In Fashola’s words, “The principle about respecting and awaiting the outcome of a court decision sometimes has been stretched. If I shut the door on your finger, and you went to court to say that the court should direct me to remove or open the door, do I say let’s wait for the outcome of the court decision when you are in pain, and people are in pain?”
He further stated, “Whatever interventions the President sought to make were interventions in response to the very palpable pain, and I think he said that much in his speech about the unintended consequences of the policy.”
On the other hand, Keyamo reiterated his belief that the President’s decision was made based on the wrong advice he received, and he would have advised him to comply with the Supreme Court’s order. He said, “All the old notes should circulate side by side with the new notes for now because that is the order of the Supreme Court.”
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