Naira Scarcity: Nigerians Are Suffering, Starving Says Gbajabiamila

Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the House of Representatives has lamented the sufferings Nigerians are facing due to the scarcity of naira across the country.

The situation is no longer funny for many households who find it difficult to purchase essential commodities for the feeding of their families due to invailability of the bank notes, despite the promise by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN to make more cash available as the s arcity bites.

The House had in response to the hardship facing Nigerians, summoned the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele who for days failed to honour the invitation until the Speaker threatened to issue a warrant of a rest for him.

But one week after the meeting with the House adhoc Committtee led by Ado Doguwa who is also the Leader of the Chamber, Gbajabiamila said the hardship continue as Nigerians ae “suffering, we have paid your salary, and you cannot withdraw it; people cannot eat, what kind of thing is that?”

According to a statement issued on Sunday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Lanre Lasisi, the Speaker stated that he will reconvene the House members who are currently on a break if the problem persists.

He expalined that the scarcity of the new naira notes have shown no sign of abating, adding that it is within the powers of the House to summon anybody in government, as nobody is above the law.

The Speaker said the lower house will not hesitate to summon Gbajabiamila again, noting that it’s currently watching what the apex bank is doing.

The statement reeds in part: “The House of Representatives intervened on several occasions. We summoned the CBN governor the first time and again, but he refused to answer, because we had many hard questions for him.

“It was until I issued the threat of warrant of arrest before he came, and I would’ve signed that warrant; it would’ve been the first time in the history of National Assembly that a CBN governor would be arrested. I would’ve done it.

“Many have argued on the independence of CBN, the autonomy of CBN. That does not make CBN above the law. The constitution gives the House the power to issue an arrest warrant against anyone, we can summon anybody, and that was exactly what the House was going to do until the CBN governor came.

“So, we are watching, and we are monitoring very closely. If need be, we will reconvene the House, even though we’ve all been away for our elections. I will call the House back, if need be.

“On the currency swap, let me explain something to you. We are all very intelligent people. Many are suffering, we have paid your salary, and you cannot withdraw it; people cannot eat, what kind of thing is that?