8th March, 2023
By Eluemelem Jennifer Chinenye
Nigeria’s Supreme Court ruling had declared last week that the government’s rollout of newly-designed currency was unconstitutional and that old notes remain in circulation until Dec 31st.
The judgment was a result of a lawsuit filed by 16 State Governors asking that the old 200,500 and 1000 naira note be allowed to circulate alongside the newly rolled-out notes.
However, some commercial banks on Monday began to dispense the old notes to members of the public in compliance with the ruling but the notes remain unacceptable in some areas.
A check by our reporter showed that some traders and drivers refused to accept the old notes.
A trader in Lagos who spoke to our reporter said: “We can’t accept it, that is how we accepted it the last time and they told us that it is no longer working.”
All efforts to convince her that the money was finally being accepted as legal tender alongside the newly printed notes until the end of the year proved abortive.
“I can only accept it when I see everybody collecting it and spending it,” she further said.
Moving to transport workers to see if they would accept the old note, the same reaction was received with even more resistance.
A point-of-sale shop owner also said that people are refusing to accept the old currency from her as they are having difficulty spending the money and don’t want to end up being stranded in public because some transport workers were refusing to collect the old currency.