The Supreme Court of Nigeria has restrained the Nigerian Government from continuing with the full implementation of the demonetisation policy.
Three States of Northern part of the country namely, Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara, had in a motion ex-parte filed on February 3rd, prayed the Apex court to halt the Central Bank of Nigeria naira redesign policy.
A 7-man panel of the Supreme Court led by Justice John Okoro, in a unanimous ruling, granted an interim injunction restraining the Nigerian government, Central Bank of Nigeria CBN, commercial banks from implementing the February 10, deadline for the old 200, 500 and 1000 Naira notes to stop being a legal tender.
The court further held that the FG, CBN, commercial banks etc must not continue with the deadline pending the determination of a notice on notice in respect of the issue on February 15.
By the ruling, the old Naira notes continue to be legal tenders in Nigeria.
The plaintiffs also filed a motion for abridgement of time to five days from the date of service within which the defendant, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) could file a response to the suit.
The states added, in a supporting affidavit, that “contrary to the requirement for the naira redesign policy to be implemented within a reasonable time frame, the Federal Government of Nigeria has embarked on the policy within an unreasonable and unworkable time frame and this has adversely affected Nigerian citizens within Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states as well as their governments, especially as the newly redesigned naira notes are simply not available for use by the people as well as the state governments.
The supreme subsequently adjourned the matter to February 15 for determination.
