The presidency yesterday disclosed that neither the federal government nor the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had taken a pre-emptive position on the legality of the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes in view of the case pending before the Supreme Court, which comes up for hearing today.
In a statement by its spokesperson, Mallam Garba Shehu, the presidency said the federal government’s position on the currency swap would be made public after the determination of the suit.
The statement said, “Following series of enquiries, we wish to state that it is not true that the federal government or the CBN has taken a pre-emptive action on the legality of currency as a legal tender in view of the pendency of the case before the Supreme Court.
“The position of the government and the CBN will be made known upon the determination of the suit coming up Wednesday.”
The Supreme Court had in a ruling on February 8 suspended the CBN’s February 10 deadline to stop the use of old currency notes. The bank had ordered citizens to swap out old N1, 000, N500, and N200 banknotes for a redesigned currency by the deadline. But the apex court, ruling in an ex parte application by three states – Zamfara, Kogi and Kaduna – stopped the CBN from banning the old notes pending the hearing and determination of the case. It fixed February 15 for hearing.
Speaking on the current situation Emefiele said the central bank was mindful of the challenges citizens faced and was currently addressing them.
He noted, “There have been reports of occasional failures in e-channel platforms. Our monitoring suggests that whilst there has been an expected surge in electronic transactions, these have not risen to unprecedented levels and the payment system is well equipped to handle even higher transaction volumes.
“Whilst transaction failures are bound to occasionally occur, the public is encouraged to have full confidence in Nigeria’s globally recognised payment system infrastructure.
NewsAnnexOnline 