Supreme court orders circulation of old naira notes till December 31

Old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes are to stay in circulation until December 31, 2023, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday.

The Federal Government's policy of redesigning the naira was also overturned by the Supreme Court, which ruled that it violated the Constitution of 1999.

The Attorney General of the Federation, the states of Bayelsa and Edo, and Justice Emmanuel Agim, who read the lead judgment, declared that the defendants' preliminary objections are overruled because the court has the authority to hear the case.

The court held that the conflict between the Federal Government and states must concern law or facts, citing Section 23(2)1 of the constitution.

The supreme court further ruled that President Muhammadu Buhari acknowledged the policy's flaws and difficulties in his broadcast.

According to the court, the strategy has caused some people to engage in barter trade in the modern day in an effort to survive. The court further stated that the President's defiance of the decree from February 8 is evidence of dictatorship.

In order to contest whether the establishment of the policy was legitimate or not, sixteen states of the Federation filed the lawsuit.

The initial lawsuit filed by the states of Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara has been designated as the first matter on the cause list for a decision.

On February 22, Judge John Inyang Okoro, who presided over a seven-member panel of Justices, set today for the court to announce its ruling on the lawsuit.