Though the Supreme Court temporarily restrained the Central Bank of Nigeria from banning the use of the old naira notes from February 10, 2023, there were indications, yesterday, that deposit money banks (DMBs) in the country may still stop accepting the old banknotes from today.
This came as the Federal Government, through the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, said last night that the Federal Government would abide by the decision of the Supreme Court, which is against the deadline for the old banknotes. He added that the Supreme Court lacked jurisdiction to decide on the matter in the first instance, as the CBN, which is a necessary party to the issue, was not joined. Also, he premised the decision of the Federal Government to obey the Supreme Court order on its inclination to the rule of law.
According to sources in the banking industry, lenders planned to stop accepting the old N200, N500 and N1, 000 notes as from today, given that the CBN was yet to officially inform them that it had again extended the deadline for when the old notes would cease to be legal tender. Governor of CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, had on October 26, last year, announced that the apex bank, with President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval, planned to redesign the N200, N500 and N1, 000 banknotes and that the new notes, which would be in circulation from December 15, 2022, would circulate together with the old notes until January 31, 2023, when the latter would cease to be legal tender.
However, following widespread complaints about the scarcity of the new naira notes, the apex bank had on January 29, obtained the approval of President Buhari to extend the initial deadline from January 31 to February 10. Despite the extension, the governors of Kogi, Kaduna and Zamfara states, on February 3, sued the Federal Government at the Supreme Court, asking for an order suspending the policy as it had brought untold hardship on the people. In a ruling on Wednesday, the apex court issued an order of interim injunction, restraining the Federal Government from declaring that the old naira notes would cease to be legal tender from February 10.
The court, after issuing the order, adjourned until February 15, for hearing of the main suit. But the managing directors of two leading commercial banks, who did not want to be named, told New Telegraph that as far as lenders were concerned, the Supreme Court’s ruling was not binding on them as neither the CBN nor the DMBs were joined as parties to the suit. One of them said: “The last word from the regulator is that February 10, 2023, remains the deadline. The banks were not joined in the Supreme Court suit and the CBN has not informed us that it has extended the deadline. Multiple court orders have been issued on the matter in the last few days.
So, I assume the CBN must be in some sort of legal quagmire and must be currently working with its legal team to navigate the issue.” When New Telegraph contacted the CBN for its reaction, an official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorised to speak on the subject, said he could not say anything on it as this would be subjudice. However, the countdown clock that the apex bank created on its website showing the February 10 deadline for when the old banknotes would cease to be legal tender was still running as of yesterday. “Current series of N200, N500 and N1000 notes remain legal until the deadline February 10, 2023,” a notice on the website reads.
In the notice, the apex bank also advised Nigerians to deposit their old notes at designated financial touch points. Similarly, commercial banks were still sending out emails to customers as of yesterday, reminding them that the deadline for depositing their old notes remained February 10, 2023. Meanwhile, following the Supreme Court’s ruling on Wednesday, President Buhari and Emefiele met at the State House, Abuja. Although details of the meeting were not revealed immediately as Emefiele refused to speak with journalists after the meeting, the Attorney-General later came on air, precisely on Arise Television, to open up on Federal Government’s support for the Supreme Court’s decision. Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android Banknotes: Confusion as banks insist on today’s deadline FG promises to abide by S’Court’s verdict on extension.
