Following the supreme court’s order approving the use of old N1,000, N500, and N200 notes as legal tender for 10 months, till December 31. Banks in the country have begun complying with the order.
Last week, the Supreme Court ordered that the old notes be allowed in circulation with the new notes until December 31. Again, the court said the Federal Government’s naira redesign policy went against the 1999 Constitution. The Central Bank of Nigeria and the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation have kept quiet over this issue.
Although skeptical, commercial banks have started the skeletal circulation of the money following the Supreme Court’s order.
On February 8, 2023, the Supreme Court nullified the February 10 deadline stipulated by the CBN for the phasing out of the old naira notes. The CBN and the AGF office, however, failed to comply.
Banks like GTB and UBA paid their customers in old notes, while other banks didn’t. They insisted on waiting on a directive from CBN. The way it is now, some banks are complying with the Supreme Court’s order. Others are awaiting CBN. Some bank customers rejected the old notes over fears that traders might not accept them as legal tender. What’s more, several people have complained about the scarcity of old bills in bank ATMs across several branches.
There is confusion right now. The federal government has been told to instruct CBN to comply with the court’s directives. This matter is having a negative effect on people’s businesses.
Furthermore, all efforts to get the CBN to comment on the Supreme Court ruling failed as the acting Director of the CBN’s corporate communications department, Dr Isa Abdulmumin, declined to comment.