It has emerged that the old N1000, N500 and N200, would remain legal tenders in Nigeria beyond February 10, 2023, thanks to the Supreme Court, which on Wednesday, restrained the Federal Government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), from maintaining the date as deadline for the currencies to be acceptable in the country.
The court restrained the Federal Government from continuing with the full implementation of the demonetisation policy, following a suit filed by three northern state governors, Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna, Yahaya Bello of Kogi and Bello Matawalle of Zamfara, who had, in a motion ex-parte filed on February 3, prayed the apex court to halt the CBN from refusing to accept the currencies as legal tenders following its redesign policy.
Justice John Okoro, in a unanimous ruling, by a seven-man panel, granted an interim injunction restraining the FG, CBN, commercial banks etc, from implementing the February 10 deadline for the old 200, 500 and 1000 Naira notes to stop being a legal tender.
The court further held that the FG, CBN, and commercial banks must not continue with the deadline pending the determination of a notice on notice in respect of the issue, meaning that the old Naira notes continue to be legal tenders in Nigeria.
