A seven-member panel of the Supreme Court led by John Okoro last week Friday, March 3, unanimously directed that the CBN must continue to receive the old notes from Nigerians.
The Supreme Court extended the validity of the N200, N500, and N1,000 Naira notes till 31 December.
The court held that the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari for the redesign of the new notes and withdrawal of the old notes without due consultation was invalid and wrong
According to reports, Emmanuel Agim, a member of the panel, who read the lead judgement, also condemned the President’s disobedience of the court’s February 8 order that the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes should continue to circulate alongside the new ones.
He said the President’s broadcast of 16 February that only N200 notes should remain legal tender made Nigeria’s democracy look like a mere pretension while democracy is replaced with autocracy.
The court said, “It is not in doubt that the President refused to comply with the order of the court that the old 200, 500, and 1,000 naira notes should continue to be legal tender,” the court said.
“Interestingly, there is even nothing to show that that the President’s directive for the release of N200 notes was implemented.
“I agree that the first defendant ought not to be heard when the president has refused to obey the authority of this court.
“Disobedience of order of court shows the country’ democracy a mere pretension and now repalced by autocracy. This suit is meritorious.”
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had last year introduced this controversial monetary policy that led to introduction of redesigned 200, N500, and N1,000 notes with tight deadline to mop up the old notes from circulation. Some state governments like Kaduna, Zamfara, Kogi among others have however challenged this policy at the apex court due to the difficulty it has imposed on the people.
The policy has led to scarcity of currency notes, bringing untold hardship to millions of citizens in an economy significantly driven by the informal sector with a large proportion of unbanked persons.
January 31, 2023 deadline was intially set for when the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes would cease to be legal tender but it was later extended to February 10 as the supply of the new notes fell far short of the volume needed by citizens to meet their most basic needs across the country.
However, due to court action against this policy insituted by the three state governments, the Supreme Court issued an interim order suspending the implementation of the deadline set by the federal government, and directed that the old and new Naira notes should continue to circulate pending the resolution of the case.
Unmoved by the court’s order, the CBN insisted that the old notes had stopped being legal tender after the 8 February deadline while the scarcity of the new notes persisted.
Of course, this recalcitrant attitude of the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele buoyed by the backing of President Buhari has really thrown Nigerians to oceans of needless sufferings and sheer exploitations.
One will always be confronted with seas of heads at these money deposit banks across the country just milling around to see if they could get cash either over the counters or from the more often than not dried ATMs.
After spending almost a whole day in the sun,some may be lucky to go home with as little as N5000, N3000 or nothing most times. The POS operators that ought to be of help are also cashing in on this unfortunate situation to charge as much as N300 per withdrawal of N1000. They will gladly regale you with stories of how much they also paid to access the cash.
This was why many Nigerians waited with bated breath for the Supreme Court to give its verdict on Friday, March 3rd and expectedly, the judiciary rose up to the occasion condemning the action of CBN and President Buhari while ordering that the old notes of N200, N500 and N1000 remain legal tender till December 31, 2023.
The joy of Nigerians over this judgement is however being threatened as many people have still refused to collect these old notes. The CBN was said to have claimed not to have any information as far as implementation of the judgement of the apex court is concerned.
Many people have said that until the President addresses the country on the policy again just as he did about three weeks ago, they won’t have anything to do with the old notes yet the new notes are nowhere to be found.
It is against this background that many have said that, if indeed, we still have a President who had sworn to protect the sacredness and integrity of the constitution of the land, he must waste no further time to give requisite instructions to the effect that the Supreme Court ruling must be obeyed to the letter.
It is the belief of Nigerians that the unnecessary hardship they now encounter to access their hard-earned money should not be extended for a day more given the judgement of the highest court in the land.
The cash crunch policy is said to have significantly impacted very negatively on businesses making it so difficult for many people to feed themselves and their families.
As long as we are not operating autocracy or dictatorship, President Muhammadu Buhari is bound by the constitution he has sworn to defend to do as Supreme Court ordered and help ease the pains of this self-affliction.