Some commercial banks and filling stations have stopped collecting the old naira notes from customers, contrary to the ruling of the Supreme Court restraining the Federal Government from enforcing the February 10, 2023, time limit earlier fixed by the apex bank for the currency swap.
Point of service operators and other bank customers whose old naira notes were rejected, panicked as bank officials, who said they were acting on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s directive, remained adamant.
Also, lawyers and litigants at high courts in Lagos State were unable to file their court processes using the old naira notes for payment.
It would be recalled that a seven-member panel of the Supreme Court, last week, issued an order of interim injunction halting the plan by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to end the use of the old banknotes of N200, N500, and N1, 000.
The court adjourned the hearing of the main case until tomorrow, February 15.
The decision follows a lawsuit filed by the governors of Kogi, Kaduna and Zamfara states, who challenged the naira redesign policy of the Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government.
In the same vein, President Buhari who had asked for 7 days to enable him to resolve the crisis caused by the scarcity of new naira notes has remained silent.
Analysts have expressed concern that despite the intervention of the National Council of States, there is no policy statement from both the FG and the CBN, beyond the rhetoric that more of the new notes be printed or the old ones recalculated.
