The Supreme Court of Nigeria has ordered that old N200, N500, N1,000 Notes to remain in circulation till Dec 31 ruling that they remain legal tender.
The apex court faulted the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to redesign the N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes without consulting governors of the 36 states of the federation. It stressed that the president ought to have duly consulted the federating states to before implementing the monetary policy through the central bank of Nigeria, CBN.
According to Vanguard report, “It held that reasonable notice was not given to the states as required under section 20(3) of the CBN Act, before the old Naira notes were withdrawn.”
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In its lead judgement delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the Supreme Court, held that the approval that President Buhari gave the CBN to withdraw the old banknotes was invalid.
According to the court, the policy has caused some people to engage in barter trade in the modern day in an effort to survive. The court further stated that the President’s defiance of the decree from February 8 is evidence of dictatorship.
In order to contest whether the establishment of the policy was legitimate or not, sixteen states of the Federation filed the lawsuit.
The initial lawsuit filed by the states of Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara has been designated as the first matter on the cause list for a decision.
