The Supreme Court of Nigeria on Wednesday, granted the request by the Federal Government for the extension of the lifespan of the N1000, N500 and N200 notes that were redesigned during the reign of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Federal Government had, last week, through the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) moved an application before the apex court seeking an extension of time for old naira notes to remain in circulation as a legal tender.
Ruling on the application on Wednesday, a seven-member panel of Justices of the apex court, led by Justice John Okoro, ordered that the old notes remain legal tender until necessary facilities are put in place for their replacement.
The old notes, according to the order of the Apex court, shall co-exist as legal tender with the new/redesigned ones.
The court, in the ruling, reviewed its earlier order made on March 3, 2023 that the old notes should cease to be legal tender by December 31, 2023, in its place, issued an order “that the old versions of 1000, 500, 200 naira notes shall continue to be legal tenders alongside the new or designed versions until the government decides to bring the circulation of the old versions to an end after its consultation with critical stakeholders and after putting all required structures in place*.
Other members of the panel are Justices Uwani Aba-Aji, Helen Ogunwumiju, Ibrahim Saulawa, Adamu Jauro, Tijani Abubakar and Emmanuel Agim.
The Supreme Court issued the orders in its judgment on a suit, marked: SC/CV/1089/2023 filed by 10 state governments, through their Attorneys General.
The plaintiff states were Kaduna, Kogi, Zamfara, Ondo, Ekiti, Katsina, Ogun Cross River, Lagos and Sokoto, while the AGF, Edo and Bayelsa states are defendants in the suit.
The AGF, while moving the application on Wednesday,
said the reason for the fresh application for further extension was rooted in the basis of the suit itself.
Fagbemi recalled that one of the reason the court gave in granting the earlier extension was because the court found that there was not enough consultation with relevant stakeholders.
He stated that since March 3 “we have been consulting. It is a matter that is of utmost importance to us because it borders on the economy of the country.”
In the application, the Federal Government said, since March 3, it has, in compliance with the court’s order, directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to engage relavant stakeholders on the issue.
It added that the CBN has been engaging the defendants (in the actual suit) in their individual capacities and in their capacities as members of the National Council of State (NCS) and National Economic Council (NEC) with respect to the naira redesign policy.
“In between the time the order was made and now, there was a presidential election in the country which has Ied to a transition from the immediate past government and the incumbent government which is just settling down.
“The incumbent government has however directed the CBN to come up, by a way of policy direction, how the naira redesign policy will be addressed in full compliance with the order of this honourable court.
“Whilst working on the policy direction and due to economic crisis being witnessed by the government of the federation and other factors beyond its control, the government of the federation till date, has not been able to print the new 200, 500 and 1000 naira notes in the equal proportion of the old 200,
500 and 1000 naira notes sought to be recalled as consultation with critical stakeholders is still on-going on how best to approach the redesign policy.
“In the meantime, people have been hoarding the new notes on the speculation that the December 31, 2023 deadline for the old notes to cease to be legal tender may not be met.
“To effectively stabilize the economy, the Federal Government is of the strong view that the old versions of 200, 500 and 1000 notes should continue to be legal tender alongside the new versions.
“Varying the order of this court will give effect to the intention of the consequential order which is to ensure that the removal from circulation of the old notes is only done when adequate structures are being put in place”, Fagbemi had argued.
The government, in its application also wants the apex court to lift its March 3 order that the old naira notes should remain alongside the new notes till December 31.
It would be recalled that, following hardship by Nigerians, the Supreme Court (in SC/CV/162/2023) on March 3, overruled the administration of former President Buhari to the effect that the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes should be legal tender until December 31.
The court held that the old Naira notes should be used alongside the redesigned currencies, until the end of the year.
In its lead judgement that was prepared and delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the apex court slammed the federal government for unilaterally introducing the demonetization policy, through the CBN, without consulting the Council of States, the Federal Executive Council, the National Security Council, the National Economic Council, Civil Society Organizations and other relevant stakeholders.
It held that the federal government failed to give valid notice to all the federating units, before it decided to withdraw the old banknotes from circulation and introduce new ones and maintained that evidence before it established that a purported notice on the monetary policy was through “mere press remarks” by the CBN governor, adding that, such remarks did not qualify as “reasonable notice” to the states as envisaged under section 20(3) of the CBN Act.
The court also invalidated the directive President Buhari gave in the broadcast he made on February 16, which allowed only the old N200 note to remain a legal tender till April 10.
While accusing President Buhari of disobeying the interim order it made on February 8, which directed that the old banknotes should remain in use till the determination of the case before it, the apex court stressed that the President, by going ahead to ban the old banknotes, acted in a way that was inimical to democratic governance.
Following the end of the last administration, the President Bola Tinubu-led government re-approached the apex court for an indefinite extension of its December 31 deadline.
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