By Muhammadu Sabiu
Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the House of Representatives, praised the Supreme Court’s ruling invalidating the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) currency policy’s deadline and extending it until December 31, 2023.
This was revealed in a statement released on Friday in Abuja by Mr Lanre Lasisi, Special Assistant to the Speaker on Media and Publicity.
According to Gbajabiamila, this had been the stand of the House of Representatives.
According to the speaker, the design and implementation of the currency exchange policy had been terminally defective and at odds with the goals of law and public policy, despite the scheme’s admirable aims.
He said that the House has been criticising the policy implementation because it violated the statute creating the CBN and that the Supreme Court’s ruling supported the House’s position.
“The decision of the Supreme Court suspending the currency swap policy introduced by CBN and extending the implementation deadline to December 31 validates the position of the House in its entirety,” he said.
The Speaker explained that the implementation of the policy is remarkably haphazard, adding that it falls way short of international standards.