The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has ordered all workers to protest at the offices of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) across the country over the scarcity of naira notes.
The NLC directed workers to commence the protest next week.
The president of the union, Joe Ajaero, gave the directive at a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday.
Ajaero said the order became imperative following the expiration of a one-week ultimatum given to the CBN to make naira notes available for Nigerians.
It would be recalled that the Supreme Court, in a judgement delivered on March 3, extended the validity of the old naira notes to December 31, 2023.
The apex bank, in a statement issued on Monday, March 14 by its acting Director, Corporate Communications, Isa AbdulMumin, directed Deposit Money Banks (DMB) in the country to comply with the Supreme Court judgement.
“Accordingly, the CBN met with the Bankers’ Committee and directed that the old N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes remain a legal tender alongside the redesigned banknotes till December 31.
“Consequently, all concerned are directed to conform accordingly,” CBN had said.
The apex bank’s directive came on a day President Muhammadu Buhari said Malami and Emefiele needed no clearance from him (Buhari) to obey the judgement of the Supreme Court.
President Buhari added that he didn’t order the AGF and the CBN Governor to disobey the Supreme Court order extending the validity of the old naira notes.
Nigerians have called on the apex bank to release more naira notes to commercial banks to ease hardship in the country, stressing that improvement has not been seen in terms of the availability of the denominations.
