The Campaign for Democracy (CD) and Human Rights Liberty Access and Peace Defenders’ Foundation (HURIDE), have asked the Central Bank of Nigeria to ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians over the redesignation of naira.
Decrying the sufferings encountered by Nigerians due to their inability to access the new currency from either the banks or POS, the groups in the statement signed by Dede Uzor A, Uzor, chairman, CD in South East and Executive Director (HURIDE), asked the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, to reduce the sufferings of Nigerians by making the new currency available to the citizens.
They also called on the CBN Governor to update Nigerians with the amount of money in circulation now and how much of the old notes have been withdrawn.
The rights groups also lambasted the CBN staff, commercial bank executives,staff and POS operators who on account of pecuniary interest have been diverting the new money to politicians.
They called on CBN to name the banks that have been diverting their own allocations to politicians and punish them accordingly.
The groups stressed the need for “openness and transparency on the part of CBN” because according to them it is only such that can earn them the respect of Nigerians and the boldness to punish erring banks, their executives and staff as well as POS operators.
They called the leadership of the Directorate of State Security (DSS), Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and National Financial Intelligence Unit ( NFIU) of the Nigerian Police to swiftly move their operatives to arrest bank executives and individuals sabotaging the efforts to reduce corruption in the system.
