By Chisaa Okoye (Business reporter)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday (today), restrained the Federal Government of Nigeria from enforcing the February 10 deadline for the old 200, 500 and 1000 naira notes to stop being legal tenders.
The apex court gave the order in suit filed by three APC-controlled states – Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara.
The three northern states had in a motion ex-parte filed on February 3rd, by their counsel, AbdulHakeem Mustapha (SAN), prayed the Supreme Court to halt the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) naira redesign policy, which has brought untold hardship on poor Nigerians, especially those in the rural areas.
Godwin Emefiele, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor had last October announced the redesigning of N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes.
He pegged weekly cash withdrawal limits to N500,000 for individuals and N5m for corporates and announced January 31, 2023 as the deadline for the old banknotes to stop being legal tenders.
The public outcry that greeted the poor implementation of the policy, particularly the resultant scarcity of the new naira notes both in the city and in the rural areas, prompted President Muhammadu Buhari to direct the CBN governor to extend the deadline till February 10, 1023.
Emefiele had also explained that although the old naira notes would cease to be legal tenders on February 10, deposit money banks would continue to receive the old banknotes even after the deadline.
Concerned by the persistent scarcity of the redesigned Naira notes and the effects the policy is having on the residents of their respective states, the governments of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara, last week, instituted a suit against the Federal government of Nigeria before the Supreme Court, seeking a restraining order to stop the full implementation of the policy.
In a motion ex-parte filed on their behalf by their lawyer, AbdulHakeem Uthman Mustapha (SAN), the three northern states prayed the apex court for an interim injunction stopping the Federal Government of Nigeria either by itself or acting through the CBN, the commercial banks or its agents from carrying out its plan of ending the timeframe within which the now older versions of the 200, 500 and 1000 denominations of the Naira may no longer be legal tender on February 10, 2023.
The Plaintiffs in the suit are the three Attorneys-General and Commissioners of Justice of the three states, while
Cited as the sole respondent in the suit is the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), while the plaintiffs are the three Attorneys-General and Commissioners of Justice of the three states.
The Plaintiffs said that since the announcement of the new naira note policy, there has been an acute shortage in the supply of the new naira notes in Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara States and that citizens who have dutifully deposited their old naira notes have increasingly found it difficult and sometimes next to impossible to access new naira notes to go about their daily activities.
Asides from the unavailability of the new notes, the plaintiffs also submitted that the notice period given by the federal government was inadequate, addingthat the 10-day extension is insufficient to address the challenges plaguing the policy.
The Plaintiffs also cited the inadequacy of the notice coupled with the haphazard manner in which the exercise is being carried out and the attendant hardship same is wrecking on Nigerians, which has been well acknowledged even by the Federal Government of Nigeria itself.
On the other hand, five political parties filed an action at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court and secured an order barring the Federal Government of Nigeria and the CBN from extending the deadline.
In a unanimous ruling on Wednesday (today), a seven-man panel of the Supreme Court led by Justice John Okoro, granted an interim injunction restraining the FG, CBN, commercial banks etc from implementing the February 10, deadline for the old 200, 500 and 1000 Naira notes to stop being legal tenders.
The court further held that the FG, CBN, and commercial banks must not implement the February 10, deadline pending the determination of a motion on notice in respect of the issue on February 15.
By this development, the old Naira notes will continue to be legal tenders in Nigeria after the February 10 deadline announced by the CBN.