A number of depository banks have started paying for the old notes, following a Supreme Court decision extending the effect of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) currency redesign policy until October. twelfth.
Some checks by the Daily Trust show that a number of commercial banks in Kano City and Abuja have started paying out old N500 and N1000 bills.
While some branches of the Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB) have issued old coins, others such as Polaris Bank in Abuja had not yet started when this report was filed.
An employee told our reporter that only old N200 bills are still being issued, “because we don’t have a new directive on what to do.”
GTB sources say they have received instructions from management to start paying for old tickets in their safe.
“The problem is that taking the old notes from customers will require the CBN form as we don’t have any directive in that regard,” the source said.
At the time of this reporting, the Daily Trust cannot confirm whether CBN has officially issued a bank-wide circular requiring the depository bank to comply.
Economists have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to order CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele to abide by the ruling on the validity of the old naira banknotes.
One economist, Paul Alake, has said that more clarity is needed on how the old N500 and N1000 bills get back into circulation.
He said the verdict would have had no impact if the old bills were not returned to the banking system by CBNs.
“If the money is not released in the financial sector by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the judgment may not have any effect.”
In a unanimous ruling, a panel of seven judges chaired by Justice Inyang Okoro on Friday found that president Muhammadu Buhari’s directive to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the design return and recover old N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes without consultation with the Cantons, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and the State National Council and other stakeholders, is unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court found that no reasonable notice was given prior to the implementation of the CBN Act policy.
