Supreme court on old Naira notes

Twenty-four hours to Governor Godwin Emefiele’s scheduled deadline on the use of the old naira notes, the rush to return the notes has increased. No Nigerian is willing to lose his/her hard earned money.

Advertisements

This is despite the Supreme Court’s verdict stopping the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from implementing the deadline for the collection of the old naira notes.

READ ALSO: Naira Scarcity: Sanwo-Olu Pours Cold Water On Lagosians

Advertisements

Nigerians who are in anxiety over the readiness of the apex bank to implement the interim ruling of the Supreme Court to push back the deadline could be spotted in large number at various banks and PoS centers in a rush to deposit whatever amount of the old notes they have left.

old naira notes deadline causes scare

Advertisements

Old Notes Must Stay

Following the interim order, Governor Emefiele urgently met with President Muhammadu Buhari in closed doors on Wednesday.

No briefing was given by the CBN governor or the State House on the meeting, putting Nigerians in suspense on the use of the old naira notes.

The Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara State Governments had on Tuesday dragged the Federal Government to court.

There aim is to stop the CBN from going ahead with the February 10 deadline for the use of the old notes.

Advertisements

The Supreme Court had in an exparte order on Wednesday asked the CBN to push forward the deadline pending hearing on the substantive suit scheduled for February 15.

READ ALSO: Atiku’s Camp Mocks APC Over Plots To Postpone 2023 Election

Advertisements

However, many Nigerians have decided to be on the safe side especially as the Government and the CBN remain silent over the court order.

Though the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, late on Wednesday declared the administration’s opposition to the suit, his silence on whether the CBN was bound by the judgment has deepened the suspense.

A senior presidential aide while speaking to journalists on the basis of anonymity said that President Buhari was not one that would disobey court orders.

“You know the president and the fact is that an order has been given.He obeys court orders and it is unlikely that he would violate it. But I have not been briefed,”

The Fear Of ‘Emefiele’

The anxiety in Nigeria is made worse by a legal opinion which submitted that as the CBN was not a party to the suit.

As a result, it is not bound by the court order on the deadline on use of the old naira notes.

Many traders, drivers and motorists have refused to collect the old Naira notes for whatever reason out of fear for the unknown.

Many others prefer to transact using online payment platforms.

Based on these issues, 10, 20, and 50 Naira notes which were once looked down on is now cherished by Nigerians.

old naira note deadline

A chat with some local traders, tricycle (Keke) drivers and a PoS operator reveals the fear of loosing money by many Nigerians.

The Yahoo Boys

A local trader in the Lagos metropolis popularly called Iya Ire recounted how the recent happenings have affected her business.

To her, the fear of the new deadline set by Emefiele has also affected her business because she has refused to collect the old notes from her customers.

Despite having a bank account with the First Bank of Nigeria, Iya Ire doesn’t accept transfers from her customers.

The area is dominated by ‘Yahoo Yahoo Boys’, she claims.

A tricycle driver who failed to reveal his identity said he had been involved in several fights with his customers over the old notes deadline.

To keep his sanity, he considers packing his “Keke for a while.

But he needs to feed his family”, hence he continues to battle with the stress.

To him, depositing the old notes was not a difficult task as PoS operators in the area are in serious need of cash for their businesses.

READ ALSO: Atiku Wanted Kwankwaso To Step Down – Galadima

It is a change of tide, as depositors now earn from the situation.

A PoS Operator, Bash Ventures, said his customers used to pay charges to deposit money from the PoS centres but now he needs to buy the money from the customers. 

According to him, the fear of the CBN’s deadline had put an end to him buying money from customers.

The CBN is expected to speak on the issue on Thursday.

Advertisements

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.