Supreme Court adjourns suit on old, new naira notes

The Supreme Court has adjourned the suit filed by state governments to challenge the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The Supreme Court adjourned the case till Wednesday, February 22 for a hearing of the consolidated suits by 10 states.

READ ALSO: CBN delists old ‎200, ‎500, ‎1000 naira notes as legal tender

Kogi, Kaduna and Zamfara States approached the Supreme Court, seeking that the CBN from be restrained going ahead with the deadline.

CBN had originally fixed January 31 as the deadline for old notes to be in circulation but extended it in response to pressure from Nigerians.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday, February 8 issued an interim injunction restraining the Federal Government from suspending the acceptance of the old Naira notes on the Friday, February 10, 2023 deadline.

Amid the court’s injunction, banks and some commercial service providers are rejecting old Naira notes.

Meanwhile, the CBN on Tuesday said old naira notes of ₦‎200, ₦‎500, ₦‎1000 notes are no longer legal tender in the country since Friday, February 10, 2023 despite the Supreme Court order.

CBN Branch Controller in Bauchi, Haladu Idris Andaza, while speaking to journalists made the disclosure.

READ ALSO: Supreme Court suspends CBN deadline on old, new naira notes swap

“In the last 24 hours, we have been inundated by questions from various angles of the general public about our operational guidelines on the old currency notes, be that as it may, there are so many questions here and there which people have been asking about,” Andaza said.

“So for the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state categorically that CBN is ready and is opened to receive all of those old notes based on certain conditions and criteria. Customers are free to come to the Bank and deposit which they cannot do at the Commercial Banks anymore because the currency has seized to be a legal tender since the 10th of this month.

“Consequently, the management of the CBN decided that those customers will have a sigh of relief by coming to the offices of the CBN in all the 36 states in the Federation including FCT to deposit their money.”