The Nigerians business community is eagerly waiting for an official response from the Presidency and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the ruling by the Supreme Court on the validity of the old naira notes.
The Apex Court had on Friday ruled that the old notes should still be legal tender till December 31, 2023.
It will be recall that, the first time the apex court made its ruling, both the Presidency and the apex bank ignored the ruling and stuck to their gum, regarding the new naira policy.
The second time the Supreme Court insisted on its earlier ruling, the Presidency ordered the apex bank to release the old N200 notes to be used along side with the new ones.
Now, the Supreme Court not only insisted on its former ruling, but extended the usage of old and new notes till December ending.
As at Saturday, market women who got their fingers burnt when they accepted the old notes in the past based on the ruling of the apex court, said, they would rather wait till the Presidency and the apex court come out with a statement.
Sola Oni who operates a bakery is not satisfied with just the ruling of the apex court, but insists, will not accept old notes until the apex bank verifies it.
One or two churches are said to have asked their members to pay offering and tithes with the old notes.
But most of the businesses visited by Blueprint insist they will wait for the central bank to make its pronouncement.
The Supreme Court had ruled that old banknotes remain legal tender until the end of the year, bringing relief to millions affected by a chaotic redesign of the naira notes.
The court held that the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari for the redesign of the new notes and the withdrawal of the old notes without due consultation, is invalid. Buhari directed the central bank to release old N200 banknotes back into circulation, to run concurrently with the new ones until April 10, 2023. However, he said that old N500 and N1,000 naira banknotes are no longer valid and must be taken to the central bank through designated channels. Many people were unable to get cash to pay for food and slept outside banks.
A January 31 deadline initially set for ending the legal tender status of the old Naira notes was extended to February 10, as the supply of the new notes fell far short of the volume needed by citizens to meet their most basic needs across the country.
On February 3, three state governments – Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara – citing the hardships the continued scarcity of naira notes brought to their people – sued the federal government at the Supreme Court for a reversal of the policy. The court issued an interim order suspending the implementation of the deadline set by the federal government and directed that the old and new Naira notes should continue to circulate pending the resolution of the case.
In November 2022, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) launched new banknotes that came into circulation on December 15, 2022. The CBN said the redesign was meant to address insecurity, tackle counterfeiting and force excess cash back into the banking system.
