The Supreme Court Orders Indefinite Use of the Old Naira Notes

The Supreme Court has ordered the indefinite use of the old N200, N500, and N1,000, naira notes along with the redesigned bank notes, in the country.

The Apex Bank, on March 3, ordered that the three old bank notes would no longer be valid for transactions as of December 31.

But the court on Wednesday vacated the order while ruling on an application filed by the justice minister, Chief Lateef Fagbemi, to vacate the March 3, 2023, order.

Justice Inyang Okoro, leading a seven-member panel of justices, ruled that the old banknotes should remain in circulation pending when the federal government and stakeholders would decide.

The Supreme Court maintained that evidence before it established that a purported notice on the monetary policy was through “mere press remarks” by the governor of the CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele.

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It held that such remarks did not qualify as “reasonable notice” to the states as envisaged under section 20(3) of the CBN Act.

Besides, the court invalidated the directive President Buhari gave in the broadcast he made on February 16, which allowed only the old N200 note to remain a legal tender until April 10.

While accusing President Buhari of disobeying the interim order it made on February 8, which directed that the old banknotes should remain in use till the determination of the case before it, the apex court stressed that the President, by going ahead to ban the old banknotes, acted in a way that was inimical to democratic governance.

According to the court, having acted in disobedience to its order, FG lost its right to be granted an audience before it.

Following the end of the last administration, the President Bola Tinubu-led government re-applied to the Supreme Court for an indefinite extension of its December 31 deadline.