Emefiele Dares Supreme Court, Insists On February 10 Deadline For Old Naira Note

In a dramatic move, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s governor, Godwin Emefiele, has insisted that the old naira notes has seized to be legal tender.

This contradicts the ruling of Nigeria’s Supreme Court which gave an interim injuntion for the currency to be on hold pending when it will pass judgement on the matter.

The withdrawal of the old N1,000, N500 and N200 notes has been a matter of controversy as the CBN had fixed February 10 as deadline.

But the apex bank boss during a visit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss the monetary and currency redesign policy of the bank on Tuesday said there was no need for the bank to shift its ground.

He said, “The situation is substantially calming down since the commencement of over-the-counter payments to complement ATM disbursements and the use of super-agents.

“There is, therefore, no need to consider any shift from the deadline of February 10.”

Some banks have began to reject the old notes despite the apex court ruling.

Likewise, some businesses are rejecting the notes over the confusion as a result of the apex bank silence and the Supreme Court ruling.

THE WHISTLER had reported that a panel comprising seven judges of the apex court led by Justice John Okoro, granted an interim injunction restraining the Federal Government, the Central Bank of Nigeria and commercial banks from implementing the February 10, deadline pending when the case will be heard by February 15, 2023.