Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has disclosed that the Central Bank of Nigeria collected approximately 3.2 trillion Naira from various sources and only printed 402 billion Naira when attempting to phase out old N200, N500, and N100 notes with new currency denominations.
Falana said this on Monday when he appeared on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
He criticised the former CBN, Godwin Emefiele, for a currency redesign earlier in the year that resulted in a scarcity of the naira.
To address the concerns arising from the currency redesign and scarcity of the naira, Falana said he had invoked the Freedom of Information Act and submitted a formal request to the apex bank, seeking disclosure of the precise amount of money printed during the redesign.
“To my utter dismay, the central bank collected about 3.2 trillion from customers and others, but the bank only printed 402 billion naira,” he said.
The human rights lawyer underscored the importance of leveraging the law to combat corruption and access crucial information to protect the interests of the people.
“We must take advantage of the law and use the law to enforce corruption and get information to defend our people,” he added.
