The Supreme Court on Wednesday restrained the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Government from effecting the February 10, 2023 deadline to phase out the old Naira notes.
In a ruling delivered by a seven-man panel of the Supreme Court led by Justice John Okoro, granted an ex parte application that the old Naira notes will remain a legal tender until a final decision has been made on the suit brought to the court by three northern states; Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara.
Recall that the CBN had redesigned the N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes, and released the new currencies in December 2022.
The financial regulator also informed Nigerians that the old Naira notes would cease to be legal starting from January 31, 2023, but it later extended the deadline to February 10, 2023.
Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara governments dragged the CBN and FG to court over the impact of the transition from old Naira to the new Naira notes.
Through their counsel, AbdulHakeem Uthman Mustapha (SAN), they asked the Surpreme Court to intervene as the deadline would increase the hardship of persons living within the three states.
They applied for an interim injunction through an ex-parte motion to temporarily halt the CBN and Nigerian commercial banks from enforcing the deadline to phase out the old Naira
Mustapha told the court that, “Unless this Honourable Court intervenes, the Government and people of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara State will continue to go through a lot of hardship and would ultimately suffer great loss as a result of the insufficient and unreasonable time within which the Federal Government is embarking on the ongoing currency redesign policy.”
The three states argued that their residents have deposited their money to the banks as directed by the central bank, but there is insufficient new Naira notes to meet the demands of their citizens.
They said the 10 days extension of the deadline is not enough to cushion the chaos and hardship the Naira redesign policy has caused their residents, as they are still unable to access their money to finance their daily activities.
The court granted their request to temporarily halt the CBN deadline, and the case was adjourned to February 15, 2023.
