The Supreme Court has on Wednesday adjourned the lawsuit filed against the federal government over the naira redesign policy introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) late last month, to February 22.
The policy aims to replace N200, N500 and N1,000 notes with the redesigned notes in short period of about eight weeks.
Three states; Kogi, Kaduna and Zamfara had last week dragged the federal government to the apex court, asking it to compel the CBN to rescind the policy, which it had set February 10 deadline for its full implementation.
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As of Wednesday, the number of states seeking to join the suit against the federal government over the policy has risen to seven, namely; Lagos, Katsina, Cross-River, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo, and Sokoto. The court granted the joinder, bringing the number of states in the case so far to 10. The court directed that the processes should be amended to reflect the new parties to the suit.
The Supreme Court had last Wednesday, restrained the CBN from implementing the February 10 deadline until Wednesday (today), when it will deliberate on the matter.
But during the hearing, the apex court did not clearly state if the restraining order stays. Abdulhakeem Mustapha, lawyer to the three states, had prayed the court to issue a fresh order, mandating the federal government to implement a deadline on the old notes. But the presiding judge, Justice John Okoro, said the ex parte order of the court delivered on February 8 still subsists till the hearing of the motion filed by the plaintiffs, which was adjourned to February 22.
However, it is not clear if the CBN will obey the order. The federal government had in its response to the lawsuit, challenged the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to entertain the case. The Attorney General of the Federation Abubakar Malami argued that the Supreme Court lacks the jurisdiction to handle the case because the plaintiffs failed to include the CBN as a party to the suit.
The CBN had ignored the February 8 order, a move that has garnered both support and criticism. The support comes from mainly economic experts who believe that the apex bank should be allowed to function as an independent institution. They warned that allowing its policies to be determined by the courts will spook investors, which will significantly undermine Nigeria’s economy.
The CBN yesterday announced that the old naira notes have ceased to be a legal tender. The CBN governor Godwin Emefiele said there is no need to consider any shift from the deadline of February 10.
Emefiele accused politicians of conniving with banks to mop up the redesigned naira notes for political use, compounding the scarcity.
“The CBN has also noticed that some politicians are buying the new notes and storing them for political purposes,” he said on Tuesday while briefing the diplomatic community on the monetary policy decisions of the CBN in Abuja.
Meanwhile, Nigerians are still reeling on the mercy of poor circulation of the new naira notes. There are reports of protests in many cities across the country due to peoples’ inability to access cash, which has significantly impacted economic activities.