A human rights crusader, Mr Femi Falana (SAN) has called on the federal government to go back to basics, correcting the abnormalities that hinder the benefits and dividends of democracy, just as he finished it must be corrected.
He referred to the current situation in Nigeria where American Dollars are being used as a means of exchange by some individuals as illegal and unacceptable.
Falana condemned how the CBN is tackling the exchange of Dollars in the country.
Speaking at a session of NBA Section on Public Interest and Development Law ( NBA-SPIDEL) theme: ‘Consequences of Undermining Judiciary Under Our Democracy’,
The programme was moderated by the Chairman of SPIDEL, Dr Monday Onyekachi Ubani.
The human right lawyer said Dollars being used as a means of payment for house rent and even school fees payment is against the constitution and it is illegal.
He referred to the announcement by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that it had entered into a currency exchange programme with China. He noted that the “CBN and China agreement was such that Nigerians could buy goods in China using Naira and Chinese who have lots of projects here in Nigeria could also use Yuan, the Chinese currency. But the West African, the IMF and the World Bank have refused to allow that process to work.”
He further said that the CBN should not be complaining about Dollars because American Dollars are not Nigeria’s legal tender currency. “We must insist and ban all the goods that can be produced in Nigeria to be imported.”
He queried why everybody is talking about Dollar. He said, “If they do that, they should sell our oil in Naira, it will enhance the value of Naira. But right now, some schools are allowed to collect their fees in Dollars, it is illegal.
“Some landlords collect rents in Dolla is an illegal act. Even some government departments are collecting salaries in Dollars illegally. People are spraying Dollars illegally at parties and CBN pretends to be taking steps to improve the quality of Naira. How can you do that? When you have dollarized the economy and are causing poverty.”
However, while responding to what the present administration could do knowing the fact that the President Buhari-led administration has just a few months left, Falana said, ” Let us forget about the Buhari regime, it’s gone. Nigerians should be demanding quality governance.
“We must insist that we deserve security of lives and property. We deserve employment of young people, we need to engage in production.”
He posited that the country should borrow a leaf from Rwanda.”A couple of years ago, a country banned the importation of used clothes. Rwanda, the leadership of the country said they want to revitalize their textile industry, why can’t we do that in Nigeria?
Malaysia came to Nigeria in the early 60s to take palm kernel seedlings, today, that country is the second largest producer of palm oil in the world. Nigeria was the largest producer of palm oil, what has happened? Why can we not do that now and engage young people in mechanised farming? Right now, I plead with the media to help the country.
“The Minister of Finance’s claim that Nigeria needs 6.5 trillion to import petroleum products is not true. The Minister of State in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources has said publicly that this is fraud. The Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Alli has said this was a fraud. So, where are the figures coming from? We must insist and ask the government to deal with smugglers. We cannot be punished for the offences of smugglers.
“Now, how can you say you are spending 6.6 trillion to import petrol, yet you can’t fix the refinery? They claimed they have spent 6 million Dollars to fix the refinery in Port Harcourt. The government claimed they had invested 2.7 million Dollars in Dangote Refinery. With this 2.7 million Dollars, we can build, buy a new refinery abroad and can assemble here in Nigeria. But the government is not prepared”.