Naira Design: Supreme Court Suspends CBN’s Naira Redesign Policy

The Supreme Court of Nigeria 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.

In a judgement in an exparte motion made by three northern states of Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara, a seven-member panel led by Justice John Okoro blocked the federal government’s action.

The three states had specifically applied for an order of Interim Injunction restraining “the federal government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or the commercial banks from suspending or determining or ending on February 10, 2023, the time frame with which the now older version of the 200, 500 and 1,000 denomination of the naira may no longer be legal tender pending the hearing and determination of their motion on notice for interlocutory injunction”.

Moving the application on Wednesday, counsel to the applicants, Mr A. I. Mustapha, SAN, had urged the apex court to grant the application in the interest of justice and the well-being of Nigeria.

He stated that the policy of the government had led to an “excruciating situation that is almost leading to anarchy in the land “.

While he referred to a Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) statistics which put the number of people who don’t have bank accounts at over 60 percent, Mustapha lamented that the few Nigerians with bank accounts can’t even access their monies from the bank as a result of the policy.

The senior lawyer went on to say that unless the Supreme Court intervenes, the situation would devolve into chaos because most banks are already shutting down.

In ruling on the motion, Justice Okoro stated that “an order of Interim Injunction restraining the federal government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or the commercial banks from suspending or determining or terminating on February 10, 2023, the time frame with which the now older version of the 200, 500, and 1,000 denominations of the naira may no longer be legal tender.”

As a result, he postponed the hearing until February 15, 2023.