Old naira notes remain valid till December, says Supreme Court

Abuja, NIGERIA —The Supreme Court on Friday ordered that the old N200, N500, N1,000 notes should remain in circulation till December 31, 2023.

The apex court also nullified the Federal Government’s naira redesign policy, declaring it as an affront to the 1999 Constitution.

The Supreme Court delivered judgement in the suit brought against the Federal Government on the naira redesign policy.

Sixteen states of the Federation instituted the suit to challenge the legality or otherwise of the introduction of the policy.

The 16 states led by Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara are praying the apex court to void and set aside the policy on the ground that it is inflicting hardships on innocent Nigerians.

They accused President Muhammadu Buhari of usurping the function of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the introduction and implementation of the policy and asked that the directive issued by Buhari be voided.

On its part, the Federal Government challenged the jurisdiction of the Apex Court on the grounds that the CBN was not joined as a party and that the dispute on the policy ought to be directed at the CBN so that the suit can be referred to the Federal High Court.

A seven-member panel of justices presided over by Justice Inyang Okoro had on February 22 adjourned to March 3 for judgment after consolidating the suits filed by the various states and taking arguments in the matter.

The 16 states now on the list of plaintiffs include: the original plaintiffs – Kaduna, Kogi, Zamfara – and the seven that were joined on 15 February – Cross River, Sokoto, Lagos, Ogun, Katsina, Ondo, and Ekiti states.

The rest are the six others that were joined on Wednesday – Nasarawa, Niger, Kano, Jigawa, Rivers and Abia states.