The Supreme Court has declared that both the old and redesigned Naira banknotes are still lawful money in Nigeria after December 31.
The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday, November 29 in a seven-man panel chaired by Justice Inyang Okoro that the banknotes shall continue in circulation until the Federal Government, following adequate consultation with relevant stakeholders, makes a decision on the matter.
The order came after the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, filed an application on behalf of the federal government.
On March 3, the court overturned the President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s ban on the usage of old N200, N500, and N1000 banknotes as legal cash.
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The court ruled that old Naira notes could be used alongside the new currencies until the end of the year.
The Supreme Court, in a lead judgement delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, slammed the FG for unilaterally implementing the demonitization policy through the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, without consulting the Council of States, the Federal Executive Council, the National Security Council, the National Economic Council, Civil Society Organisations, and other relevant stakeholders.
It held that the FG failed to provide valid notice to all federating units before deciding to withdraw old banknotes from circulation and replace them with new ones.
The Supreme Court stated that the evidence presented to it indicated that the claimed notice on monetary policy was through “mere press remarks” by CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele.
It ruled that such comments did not constitute “reasonable notice” to the states, as required by section 20(3) of the CBN Act.
