The federal government has been ordered by the Federal High Court to take urgent steps towards the re-establishment of the People's Bank of Nigeria. The order was made in a landmark judgment delivered last Friday by Justice Mohammed Idris in the case of Femi Falana SAN v Attorney-General of the Federation. The plaintiff had contended that the People's Bank of Nigeria was illegally abolished when the law establishing it has not been repealed by the National Assembly. Mr. Falana prayed the court to order the federal government to re-establish the bank. In opposing the case, the federal attorney-general challenged the locus standi of the plaintiff and the competence of the suit on the ground that it was statute barred.
In his reply to the objections to the suit, Mr. Falana submitted that the doctrine of locus standi has given way to public interest litigation in Nigeria. He cited the case of Fawehinmi v The President and several other authorities to back up his submissions. While, maintaining that the federal government has acknowledged that poverty was on the increase in the country. Mr. Falana submitted that it was unjust to abolish the bank when the Central Bank of Nigeria had recently bailed out commercial banks, collapsed by the rich and it is currently wiping out the toxic debts owed by the same set of few pampered citizens. Recalling that the People's Bank was established to cater for underprivileged citizens who could not access loans in commercial banks due to lack of collaterals, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria pointed out that the federal government abolished the bank while it has contined to fund the Bank of Industry, Infrastructural Bank and others which are only patronised by the rich.
In upholding the contention of Mr Falana SAN, the judge held that the plaintiff had established his locus standi as a concerned citizen in line with the new trend on legal standing in public intetest litigation in Nigeria. The judge ruled that since the People's Bank of Nigeria Act (Cap P7) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 is a valid and existing law, the decision to scrap the bank by the federal government is illegal and unconstitutional and that as a continous violation it is not affected by the Public Officers Protection Act. Justice Idris therefore ordered the federal government to re-establish the bank to continue to give soft loans to underprivileged citizens in line with the provisions of the People's Bank of Nigeria Act .
In the same vein, the same court had last month ordered the federal government to establish the Nigerian education bank to enable indigent undergraduates to access loans to pursue their degree programmes in tertiary institutions. The suit praying for the establishment of the bank was also filed by Mr Falana. The lawyer had argued that the bank would assist thousands of undergraduates who are being forced to abandon their studies on accont of skyrocketing school fees. While noting that the law had not been implemented since it was promulgated in 1993, Justice Idris agreed with Mr. Falana that the federal government is under a legal obligation to establish and fund the bank pursuant to the Nigeria Education Bank Act.
In his reaction to the judicial orders for the revival of the People's Bank and the establishment of the Nigerian Education bank, Mr Falana SAN said that "Justice Mohammed Idris deserves commendation for upholding two fundamental welfare laws in the country. With the avowed commitment of the federal government to poverty alleviation, I do hope that both judgments will be complied with without any delay. By encouraging public interest litigation, Justice Idris has challenged progressive lawyers to use the instrumentality of the law to defend and protect the interests of the majority of our oppressed people. More importantly, the judge has reminded the defenders of market fundamentalism in government that the State has a duty to promote the welfare of all citizens particularly the economically disadvantaged segment."
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