APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that Nigerians who hoped that the nationwide broadcast by President Muhammadu Buhari would put an end to the crisis and sufferings engendered by the naira redesign had their hopes dashed dominates the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Friday.
The Punch reports that Nigerians who hoped that the nationwide broadcast by President Muhammadu Buhari, would put an end to the crisis and sufferings engendered by the naira redesign had their hopes dashed on Thursday.
Contrary to these expectations, Buhari’s national broadcast failed to offer any concrete solution to the severe cash shortage, or the pains and sufferings of Nigerians.
Senior lawyers who reviewed the President’s speech and its implications for the recent Supreme Court judgment on the matter also expressed consternation with some arguing that the President’s actions violated the order of the highest court in the land.
The President’s directive came barely 24 hours after the Supreme Court affirmed that its February 8 order restraining the Federal Government and its agencies from enforcing the February 10 deadline for the use of old N200, N500 and N1000 naira notes still subsisted
The court had, in its ruling, granted the prayer of the plaintiffs- Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states barring the Federal Government from implementing its demonetization policy and ending the cash-swap policy on February 10, pending the hearing and determination of the plaintiffs/applicants’ motion on notice for interlocutory injunction.
However, expressing disappointment, several senior advocates said Buhari’s speech violated the country’s law.
Tayo Oyetibo, one of the Senior Advocates of Nigeria, who spoke with The PUNCH, said, ‘’The President cannot by executive fiat override, an order of the Supreme Court.
That is the doctrine of separation of powers. You can use executive fiat to subvert the order made by the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land.’’
The newspaper says that the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has said that the current scarcity of naira notes has negatively impacted business activities by disrupting the proper flow of goods.
The president of the association, Chief Francis Meshioye, stated this on Tuesday during an interaction with journalists in Lagos.
According to him, the current naira scarcity and the pressure the cash crunch has put on online transactions have negatively affected the free flow of goods.
He said, “I want to assume that this is a very short-term problem. It is general. Even if you want to do e-banking, there are some things you cannot do at the moment. We have problems, PoS is not working.
“There is no way any scarcity of something that is essential to the consumer will not affect the producer. We feel it because it hinders the proper flow of our goods to the end user. What effect is that going to have? It means we will pile stock and when we pile stock, it means cash is trapped. We pay high interest rates and they won’t yield good returns and investments go to where returns come regularly.
“No investor wants to play with his money. This is a very big issue in the economy now. If you put all these together, you will agree with me that we are really facing a critical time as manufacturers.”
Meshioye further stated that the lingering fuel scarcity has worsened the energy crisis faced by manufacturers and has made it difficult to determine the price of goods.
“Currently, we cannot do our budget effectively. You have to do a flex budget so that every month you have to review your budget.
The prices cannot be determined because the day after things can go to the left or right with regard to forex.”
On the association’s interaction with presidential aspirants and their plans for the manufacturing sector, Meshioye stated that MAN was being strategic in its engagement during this electioneering year to place its issues on the front burner.
He said the association has engaged the presidential aspirants on the importance of having a virile and competitive manufacturing sector.
“We have equally pushed at different fora with major political contenders to incorporate the need to accelerate the growth and development of the manufacturing sector in their economic agenda.
“In this regard, we have availed all the political parties with our Blueprint for the Accelerated Development of Manufacturing in Nigeria as well as the agenda for manufacturing in Nigeria for the next 10 years,” Meshioye said.
The Guardian reports that the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba, has handed over 3,980 arms, 2,358 ammunition and 1,057 cartridges recovered from criminals to the National Centre for Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW).
Handing over the items to NCCSALW in Abuja, yesterday, the IGP said the small arms and light weapons were recovered by the police in various operations across the country.
The IGP was represented by Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Finance and Administration), Mohammed Dan-Malam.
He said the arms and ammunition include 265 automatic rifles, 146 pump action guns, 1,909 locally fabricated pistols, 1,500 locally made single barrel guns and 98 locally made double barrel guns.
Others were 46 general purpose machine guns, 16 locally made rocket launchers, two locally made anti-aircraft guns, seven rocket propelled grenades, 2,358 assorted ammunition and 1,057 assorted cartridges.
This came as the IGP disclosed that about 404,106 personnel from police and other security agencies would be deployed for the February 25 and March 11 elections in the country
He said: “Nigeria Police will deploy 310,973 personnel for election security operations. This will comprise of conventional policemen, mobile policemen, special counterterrorism unit, special forces, intelligence response team and other sections of the police.
“The manpower requirement for this exercise will be complemented by the military and other security agencies. In this regard, aside the military and the Department of State Services, other security agencies will contribute a total of 93,133 personnel for the security operations.
The Nation newspaper says that the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has warned President Muhammadu Buhari and politicians to desist from pushing the country into anarchy.
President of the Congress, Comrade Festus Osifo told reporters that workers could not fold their hands and watch the country destroyed by those who do not mean well for it.
Osifo lamented that Nigeria has never had it so bad, where the people attack banks, strip in banking halls or threaten to commit suicide because they can’t access their money.
According to him, “The populace is unable to pay for basic needs including food, medicines, clothes or transportation.
“Workers and indeed mases cannot be used as pons in the hands of politicians.
“We do not only hold those in political office responsible for this clear decline into anarchism, but also the politicians who rather than come up with concrete suggestions or try to find a solution, have turned this tragedy into a circus show in which brick bats are thrown, conspiracy theories woven, and accusations made while the people are meant to suffer.
“Nigerians are angry; justifiably so and have shown their anger in several ways, including through protests. Tragically, rather than address the issues or try to assuage their anger, the security services under the Presidency is shooting live bullets at defenseless Nigerians.
“The TUC demands that President Muhammadu Buhari and his government put an immediate stop to these shootings and bring the culprits to book.
“Indeed, what can be more criminal than depriving the citizenry of access to their hard earned money thereby starving them and their families, and then turning round to unleash armed security forces on them?
“The Presidency and political class must realise that they are pushing the country down the steep slope of anarchism.
“Unless they reverse this, they must know that our collective efforts to build a viable and democratic system would be lost; we are very close to the precipice and must act carefully.”
GIK/APA