Rt Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the House of Representatives, has threatened to issue a warrant of arrest on Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and some bank directors over their refusal to honour an invite over scarcity of three newly designed naira notes.
The green chamber had summoned the CBN governor and bank directors over the January 31, 2023 deadline for the validity of old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes but the bank chiefs refused to heed the invitation by the green chamber.
Gbajabiamila in a statement on Thursday, said the bank chiefs, by shunning the invitation of the House, insulted the authority and prerogatives of the people’s parliament, which according to him, is unacceptable.
The Speaker said the warrant to be issued would be against the CBN and bank directors and did not expressly mentioned Emefiele, but the House had at different times in the last two months summoned the CBN governor over the naira redesign but the invitation was not honoured.
The House had invited Emefiele and the bank directors to give reasons for the ongoing failure to adequately disburse the redesigned naira notes before the expiration of the January 31, 2023.
The House further constituted an ad-hoc committee led by the Majority Leader of the House, Alhassan Ado Doguwa over the matter.
The Speaker said, “The Resolution of the House was predicated on information showing that the rollout of the redesigned naira notes has been an unmitigated failure.
This failure has real and dire consequences on the ability of Nigerians to conduct business across the country.
“The refusal by the CBN to heed the invitation by the House of Representatives is evidence of a blatant disregard for the well-being of the Nigerian people who are their customers. It is also an insult to the authority and prerogatives of the people’s parliament.