Recoloured Naira: Supreme Court adjourns hearing on CBN deadline

The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned until February 22 the hearing in a suit filed by Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara states against President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime.

The states sought a restraining order to stop the full implementation of the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Last week, a seven-member panel led by Justice John Okoro halted the move in a ruling in an ex parte application brought by three northern states.

The three states had specifically 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, the time frame with which the now older version of the N200, N500 and N1,000 denomination of the naira may no longer be legal tender pending the hearing and determination of their motion on notice for interlocutory injunction.”

However, on Tuesday, the CBN Godwin Emefiele insisted that the N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes ceased to be legal tender on February 10, an earlier deadline.

“No doubt there are pockets of pressure in some areas. The CBN is working hard to shift pressure and resources to those areas in order to ease the tension,” Mr Emefiele claimed. “The situation is substantially calming down since the commencement of over-the-counter payments to complement ATM disbursements and the use of super-agents.”

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

(NAN)