Naira scarcity: Anxiety as Supreme Court resumes hearing

The Supreme Court will today (Wednesday) resume hearing on the Naira redesign policy.

The suit is between some state governments and the President Muhammadu Buhari government.

Nigerians will be keenly awaiting the results of the court proceedings, as they have been battling with scarcity of the Naira for several weeks.

The Supreme Court on February 8, restrained the Federal Government from going ahead with the February 10 deadline for swapping the old naira notes with new ones.

However, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) refused to move the deadline.

The injunction was sequel to a suit filed by Zamfara, Kogi and Kaduna states against the Attorney-General of the Federation, Malami Abubakar on February 3.

Ekiti, Kano, Sokoto, Lagos, Ondo, Ogun and Cross River states have also joined the suit as co-plaintiffs.

Buhari, however, last Thursday during a nationwide broadcast, ignored the Supreme Court’s order and extended the validity of only the old N200 notes, insisting that the old N500 and N1,000 notes are no longer legal tender.

The president announced that the old N200 notes remain legal tender until April 10, 2023, while urging Nigerians to deposit their old N500 and 1000 notes with the Central Bank.

The governments of Kaduna, Ogun and Sokoto states, however, said the people in their states should continue to use the old naira notes as legal tender until the Supreme Court delivered its final pronouncement on the case pending before it.