Anxiety As Supreme Court Resumes Hearing On Old Naira Notes Deadline

As the Supreme Court today (Wednesday) resumes hearing on the old naira note deadline suit between some state governments and the Federal Government, Nigerians, especially consumer and business groups as well as professional and trade unions are looking up to the apex court for a favorable judgment that they expect will ameliorate their suffering.

The Supreme Court had on February 8 restrained the Federal Government from implementing the February 10 deadline for swapping the old naira notes with new ones, but the Central Bank of Nigeria refused to shift the deadline.

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The injunction was a sequel to a suit filed by Zamfara, Kogi, and Kaduna state governments against the Attorney-General of the Federation on February 3.

Other states including Lagos, Ondo, Ekiti, Kano, Sokoto, Ogun, and Cross River have also joined the suit as co-plaintiffs.

But the crisis between the governors and the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) over the naira redesign initiative worsened last Thursday when the President in his nationwide broadcast ignored the apex court order by extending the validity of the old N200 notes while insisting that the old N500 and N1,000 remained illegal.

Buhari further stated that the old N200 note would be; legal tender till April 10, 2023, while urging Nigerians to deposit their old N500 and 1000 notes with the central bank.

Insisting on the order of the apex court, the governments of Kaduna, Ogun, and Sokoto states, however, said the people in their states should continue to use the old naira notes as legal tender until the Supreme Court delivered its final pronouncement on the case pending before it.