Banks to get directives on old naira notes today as CBN awaits Buhari

Commercial banks may start dispensing the old naira notes as from today as there are strong indications that the Central Bank of Nigeria would issue a fresh directive approving the exercise following Friday’s judgement of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court, in a ruling read by Justice Inyang Okoro, described President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive to the CBN for the redesign and withdrawal of old notes of N200, N500 and N1,000, without consultation with the states, the Federal Executive Council, the National Council of State and other stakeholders as unconstitutional, lambasting the government for not giving reasonable notice before the implementation of the policy as provided under the CBN Act.

However, our correspondent observed that neither the federal government nor the CBN had shown evidence of complying with the order of the Supreme Court as the cash crunch bites harder across the country.

According to the report that the intense scarcity of naira notes could begin to fade away from today as the CBN is about to get a nod from the president regarding compliance with the court order.

A source said, “The judgement was delivered on Friday and as you also know that the CBN sought the approval of President Buhari before it embarked on the implementation of the policy, it is important that the bank awaits a fresh directive from him on the matter after the judgement knowing full well that the CBN was not even party to the suit filed by the governors.

“So, all things being equal, we would get a clearer view of where we are headed on the naira notes from Monday. Nigerians just have to be patient.”