CBN warns against hoarding of new Naira, snubs AGF, National Council of State on compliance with S’Court ruling, as old notes become illegal

Scheduled meeting of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Management, last Monday, in Abuja may have failed to yield expected results from Nigerians as the regulatory bank has now declared that the old Naira notes remain non-legal tender after the February 10 deadline set by the bank after expiration of the initial January 31, 2022 date.

Meanwhile, speaking during a briefing with members of the Diplomatic Corps on the Naira redesign, earlier Tuesday, in Abuja, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele called for understanding of the foreign community.

He, however, warned against hoarding of currency notes, further cautioning that law enforcement agencies will arrest those who disrespect the Naira.

Emefiele also restated the CBN’s commitment towards deepening cashless policy of the bank in Nigeria.

However, amid the new Naira scarcity across the country, the CBN Branch Controller in Bauchi State, Haladu Idris Andaza, during a chat with journalists declared that the old Naira notes were no longer legal tender in the country.

The scarcity is also compounded by refusal of commercial banks to accept the old notes from depositors, even as the currencies were subject of rejection in the open market across the country, including public and private offices.

“In the last 24 hours, we have been inundated by questions from various angles of the general public about our operational guidelines on the old currency notes, be that as it may, there are so many questions here and there which people have been asking about.

“So for the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state categorically that CBN is ready and is open to receiving all of those old notes based on certain conditions and criteria. Customers are free to come to the Bank and deposit which they cannot do at the Commercial Banks anymore because the currency has been seized to be legal tender since the 10th of this month.

“Consequently, the management of the CBN decided that those customers will have a sigh of relief by coming to the offices of the CBN in all the 36 states in the Federation including FCT to deposit their money.

“The customer has to go to the CBN portal and fill a form in the portal, there will be a form there concerning this currency redesign and exchange. After filling the form, you generate a code, you either print it or come with it on your mobile phone and give us the code and the information contained therein. In the form, you are expected to provide all the basic information about yourself, your account details and the amount you want to deposit.

“By the time you have done it correctly, you come to the CBN where the code will be accepted from you as well as the money, process and confirm the genuineness or otherwise of the money to avoid receiving fake notes because there are some fake notes in circulation now,” Andaza said.

CBN’s insistence on going ahead with the enforcement of the February deadline also comes in conflict with the earlier assurances given by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Abubakar Malami who had days after a Supreme Court order stopping the CBN deadline enforcement, assured that the Federal Government will comply with the apex court’s ruling.

This is also as the CBN move goes against positive assurances given by the bank’s governor , Godwin Emefiele to the meeting National Council of State members in Abuja, last Friday, who had suggested re-circulating the old notes withdrawn from circulation in order to ease the current cash crunch.

The Council of State had also recommended re-circulating the old notes in the event of the CBN lacking the capacity to print more of the redesigned N1,000, N500 and N200 notes.

It was, therefore, expected that the CBN’s scheduled meeting, Monday, will seek to consider recommendations of the National Council of State, if not at least the AGF’s position.

The planned meeting at the bank’s headquarters in Abuja, was also expected to consider fresh directives to commercial banks on whether to keep accepting deposits of the old notes or not.

It would be recalled that the country’s Supreme Court had, last Wednesday, February 8, restrained the CBN from implementing its decision to ban transactions in old Naira notes from February 10.

The CBN had initially set a January 31, 2022 deadline for the termination of use of the old Naira notes since the December 2022 introduction of the redesigned currencies, however, following appeals by the general public the Federal Government directed the regulatory bank to extend the deadline to February, February 10.

Ruling in a suit brought before it by three state governors of Zamfara, Kaduna and Kogi, a seven-member panel of the apex court led by Justice John Okoro, last Wednesday, ordered the CBN to halt implementation of the deadline by a week.

Though, the CBN has yet to officially announce any decision extending the use of the old Naira notes, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Abubakar Malami, last Wednesday, disclosed that the Federal Government would comply with the Supreme Court ‘in line with the rule of law.’

“The order was granted by the Supreme Court and the order is to lapse on (next) Wednesday which is the day of the hearing. With that position in mind, we have taken steps to file an objection challenging the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the matter.

“Jurisdiction on the grounds that when you talk of monetary policy regardless of the characters they take, the Central Bank is an indispensable and a necessary party for that matter.

“What we have at hand is a situation where the Central Bank is not joined as a party and if the Central Bank as an institution is not joined as a party the position of the law is clear that the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court cannot be properly invoked.

“So we have given considerations to diverse issues inclusive of the issue of jurisdiction and come Wednesday we will argue the case from that perspective amongst others.

“There is no doubt the fact that the ruling of the Supreme Court regardless of the prevalent circumstances is binding and then within the context of the rule of law, you can equally take steps that are available to you within the context of the spirit and circumstances of the rule of law and what we are doing, in essence, is compliance with the rule of law both in terms of obedience to the ruling and in terms of challenging the ruling by way of putting our own side of the story, putting across our case, challenging jurisdiction.

“So the issue of obedience to the ruling of the Supreme Court is out of it. We are wholeheartedly in agreement that naturally we are bound by it and will comply accordingly but within the context of compliance, we shall challenge the ruling by way of filing an application seeking for it to be set aside, it is all about the rule of Law.

“The rule of law provides that there has to be obedience to the judgment and orders of the supreme court, the rule of law provides that when you are not happy with a ruling you can file an application for setting aside and in compliance with the rights and privileges vested in us as a government we are equally looking at challenging the order and seeking for it to be set aside,” AGF Malami said.

However, since the filing of the suit before the Supreme Court, more State Governors from across political party divide have applied to join the three original plaintiffs, including; Ondo, Ekiti, Bayelsa, Rivers and Sokoto states.

The Supreme Court had fixed this Wednesday, February 15, to hear the suit, in Abuja.