On Wednesday, the Supreme Court issued an order directing that the old denominations of Naira notes—N200, N500, and N1000—will continue to coexist alongside the new notes until further notice. The court emphasized that both old and new notes will maintain their status as legal tender until the Federal Government establishes a comprehensive process for their replacement or redesign, following due consultation with relevant stakeholders.
The ruling, delivered by a seven-member panel led by Justice Inyang Okoro, was in response to an application by the Federal Government. The government sought an extension of the period during which the old Naira notes would remain in circulation as legal tender. The application also requested the court to rescind its March 3 order, citing the necessity of the extension due to challenges in printing a sufficient volume of new notes for a phased-out transition before the December 31 deadline.
In the application presented by the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, the Federal Government elaborated on the potential consequences of a refusal to extend the circulation period. It argued that a failure to do so might lead to a recurrence of the national, economic, and financial crisis experienced in the first quarter of the year during the implementation of the naira redesign policy under the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele.
The Federal Government urged the court to permit the concurrent use of old and new notes until it could engage in consultations with stakeholders, emphasizing the risk of economic instability if the December 31 deadline was strictly adhered to. The court, in a unanimous decision, granted the application by Fagbemi, allowing for the continued circulation of both old and new Naira notes.
In a related development, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had previously announced in mid-November that the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes would remain legal tender indefinitely.
