The apex court issued a restraining order on the president on the grounds that he did not follow the provisions of the constitution before implementing the policy, by consulting the National Security Council and National Economic Council.
The judgement was read by Justice Emmanuel Agim on Friday morning in the presence of governors Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), Yahaya Bello (Kogi) and Bello Matawalle (Zamfara) who first instituted the suit. The court ruled that the president’s statement in his February 16 broadcast, where he said the naira redesign was in line with global practices, was not sufficient to justify the policy.
The Court noted that countries like the UK and Australia allowed both old and new notes to co-exist for not less than one year. It further directed that the old and the new banknotes should be allowed to be in circulation until December 31, 2023.
The ruling is a big blow to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which had issued new designs of the banknotes, and had been implementing the policy since September 2020.
The CBN had earlier justified the policy, citing the need to combat counterfeiting and money laundering, but had faced opposition from various quarters.
The restraining order by the Supreme Court means that the old banknotes will continue to be in circulation, and people can still use them for transactions until the end of 2023. The ruling is expected to have a significant impact on the country’s monetary policy, as well as on the government's efforts to curb financial crimes.