Yar'Adua gives insight on the suspension of Naira redenomination
President Umaru Yar’ Adua gave detailed explanation on why he suspended the redenomination of naira as proposed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) about a fortnight ago

In a chat with newsmen he said the policy was not necessary for the economy. He said that the Federal Government “after the briefing of the CBN Executive council came to the conclusion that “all the countries where the re-denomination policy was adopted were countries facing hyper inflation.” According to him “the Nigerian economy has been stable in the last five years with a stable exchange, a near single digit inflation and interest rate.”

The President explained why he has not commented on the allegation against the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mrs. Patricia Etteh.
He said the executive arm of government which he heads has not acted because he wants the Speaker to be given fair hearing.

The President said that adopting the re-denomination of the naira policy would have amounted to “applying surgery on a patient that is not sick”
The President also explained that the Central Bank did not follow due process in its approach to the introduction of the policy. According to him, the Executive Council was briefed based on the fact that the apex bank has autonomy to formulate monetary policy for the country but did not follow due process in announcing the policy.

He said that the CBN through its board should have submitted the proposal to the Presidency which would have given the President room for wide consultation with various stakeholders to examine the implication the policy would have on the economy before deciding whether to adopt it as a policy.

The policy, he said, was a major shift that would have had a far reaching effect on the economy. He said as a government that believes in rule of law and due process it was embarrassing to the government for a major policy to be announced in that manner by the CBN without due process.
 “The plan clearly states what the Federal Government will do, what the state government will do and what the local governments will do. That will give rise to the total economic increase in the region.