After the Supreme Court’s decision to prolong the legality of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) currency redesign policy until December, certain deposit money institutions have begun paying out old notes, according to the Daily Trust.
According to inspections, some commercial banks in Kano and Abuja have begun issuing the old N500 and N1000 notes.
While some Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB) branches released old notes, others, such as Polaris Bank in Abuja, had not begun as of the time this article was submitted.
According to GTB sources, they received a direction from management to begin paying old notes in their vault.
“The issue is that collecting old notes from consumers would require the use of the CBN form because we don’t have any directives in that regard,” the person explained.
According to a member of staff, only the old N200 notes are still being issued “since we do not have any fresh direction on what to do yet.”
On Friday, a seven-member panel of justices presided over by Justice Inyang Okoro ruled unanimously that President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to redesign and withdraw old notes of N200, N500, and N1,000 without consulting the states, the Federal Executive Council (FEC), the National Council of States, and other stakeholders was unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court stated that no fair notice was provided before the adoption of the policy, as required under the CBN Act.
