The Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily halted the move by the Federal Government to ban the use of the old naira notes from February 10, 2023.
The seven-member panel led by Justice John Okoro halted the move of the federal government in a ruling in an exparte application brought by three northern states of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara.
The three states had applied for an order of Interim Injunction restraining “the federal government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or the commercial banks from suspending or determining or ending on February 10, 2023, the time frame with which the now older version of the 200, 500 and 1,000 denomination of the naira may no longer be legal tender pending the hearing and determination of their motion on notice for an interlocutory injunction”.
In a unanimous ruling, the apex court 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 legal tender.
The court further ruled 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 on February 15.
By this ruling, the old Naira notes continue to be legal tender in Nigeria until the supreme court gives a final ruling.
