The Supreme Court of Nigeria on Wednesday, 8th February, 2023, has restrained the Federal Government, from implementing the February 10, deadline for the old 200, 500, and 1000 Naira notes to stop being legal tender.

A seven-man panel of the Supreme Court led by Justice John Okoro, in a unanimous ruling, granted an interim injunction restraining the Federal Government and CBN from implementing the February 10, deadline for the old 200, 500, and 1000 Naira notes to stop being a legal tender.

Three States, Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara, had in a motion ex-parte filed on February 3rd, prayed the Supreme Court halts the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Naira redesign policy.

The States said there has been a shortage in the supply of the new naira notes, 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.

They added that the CBN policy is imposing a lot of hardship on Nigerians and insisted that the ten-day extension by the Federal Government is still insufficient to address the challenges of Nigerians swapping their old Naira notes for new ones.

The court further held that the FG, CBN, and commercial banks must not continue with the deadline pending the determination of a notice in respect of the issue on February 15, 2023.

Story: Asma’u Sani

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