The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has given a condition and criteria for the acceptance of old naira notes in the country despite the Supreme Court restraining the apex bank from going ahead with the deadline.
The apex bank in its latest statement claimed that the old N200, N500, and N1000 ceased to be legal tender on February 10, 2023.
CBN stated this despite the Supreme Court had last Wednesday temporarily halted the move by the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria to ban the use of the old naira notes with effect from February 10, 2023.
Recall that the CBN had fixed January 31st as the deadline for the exit of the old Naira notes of N200, N500, and N1,000 but the apex bank later bowed to pressure and extended the swapping period to February 10.
Some state governors elected under the platform of the All Progressives Congress APC who alleged that the CBN policy was targeted against the party’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu dragged the Federal Government to court.
The governments of Kogi, Kaduna, and Zamfara States last week, filed a lawsuit before the Supreme Court, seeking a restraining order to stop the FG from executing the February 10 deadline.
In a Suit Number: SC/CS/200/2023, the states asked the apex court to declare that the President of Nigeria, cannot unilaterally direct the Central Bank of Nigeria to recall the new N200, N500, and N500 old Bank notes without recourse to the Federal Executive Council and National Economic Council, respectively.
They also prayed a mandatory order seeking a reversal of the Federal Government policy to recall the N200, N500, and N1,000 notes from circulation, for affecting the economic well-being of over 20 million of its citizens.
The applicants also sought mandatory order, compelling the Federal Government to reverse the Naira redesign policy for alleged failure to comply with the 1999 (as amended) constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The ruling last Wednesday on the matter, the Supreme Court in a seven-member panel led by Justice John Okoro halted the move by FG and the CBN to end the circulation of old Naira notes across the country.
The matter was, however, adjourned to February 15, 2023, for a hearing of the substantive suit
However, there has been silence on the part of the apex bank since the court gave its ruling.
The CBN Branch Controller in Bauchi, Haladu Idris Andaza, in a chat with journalists said the old notes were no longer legal tender.
He said, “In the last 24 hours, we have been inundated by questions from various angles of the general public about our operational guidelines on the old currency notes, be that as it may, there are so many questions here and there which people have been asking about.
“So for the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state categorically that CBN is ready and is open to receiving all of those old notes based on certain conditions and criteria.
“Customers are free to come to the Bank and deposit which they cannot do at the Commercial Banks anymore because the currency has been seized to be legal tender since the 10th of this month.
“Consequently, the management of the CBN decided that those customers will have a sigh of relief by coming to the offices of the CBN in all the 36 states in the Federation including FCT to deposit their money.
“The customer has to go to the CBN portal and fill a form in the portal, there will be a form there concerning this currency redesign and exchange.
“After filling out the form, you generate a code, you either print it or come with it on your mobile phone and give us the code and the information contained therein.
“In the form, you are expected to provide all the basic information about yourself, your account details, and the amount you want to deposit.
“By the time you have done it correctly, you come to the CBN where the code will be accepted from you as well as the money, process and confirm the genuineness or otherwise of the money to avoid receiving fake notes because there are some fake notes in circulation now.”
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