Some customers at the Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC) fuel retail station on Friday were stunned following the rejection of old Naira notes by the station attendants.
The attendants reportedly said that the rejection due to the February 10, 2023 deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to swap old #200, #500 and #1,000 notes for new ones.
Though the customers were advised by the management to make use of the Point of Sale (POS) service made available at the station, many of them (customers) said they don’t have money in their accounts.
The action of station management came despite the Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday that the deadline should be suspended pending the determination of the case brought before it by the governors of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara States.
Besides, the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami had said the Federal government will obey the Supreme Court ruling.
Malami said the government was hopeful that the ex parte ruling which expires on Wednesday, February 15, 2023, would be upturned.
According to him, an interim order was granted by the Supreme Court and that order was to lapse on Wednesday (February 15) and incidentally, that was the day the court fixed for hearing of the motion,” Malami said.
“With the position in mind, we have taken steps to file our objection challenging the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the matter. Jurisdiction on the ground that when you talk of monetary policy, Centrall Bank is an indispensable and necessary party in the matter”, Malami stated
