President Muhammadu Buhari is considering extending the validity of old naira notes by 60 days, TheCable reports.
This is to avoid disobeying the order of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, which ruled that the old N1,000, N500 and N200 notes remain valid until it delivers judgment in the case filed by some states against the federal government.
The CBN had insisted that the February 10 deadline would not be changed. However, a senior government official revealed that Buhari was worried about the hardships faced by Nigerians and the legal implications of disobeying the constitutional court’s order.
TheCable reports the source as saying that this was the focus of a meeting between Buhari and the leadership of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and the Progressives Governors Forum until the early hours of Wednesday.
The governors were then expected to withdraw their case at the apex court.
“The resolve was to give room for President Buhari to make concessions on the monetary policy and make the following announcements public,” the official said.
“One, the old naira notes of N1,000, N500 and N200 be allowed free movement in and out of the banks for the next 60 days.
“Two, that all three notes will be legal tender during this period, but that any old N500 or N1000 that goes into a bank will not be sent back into circulation.”
While others agreed with the president, Nasir El-Rufai, the governor of Kaduna state, insisted on cancelling the entire policy, according to the official.
Buhari, who had earlier delayed attending the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting by 40 minutes to monitor the Supreme Court’s developments, was disappointed that the governors had reneged on their promise to withdraw the case.
He had, after the meeting Wednesday, met with Godwin Emefiele, the CBN governor, and Modibbo Tukur, the director of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), on the need to allow all old notes circulate in the system to ease the hardship on ordinary Nigerians.
“The president will not disobey the court. But he is also concerned about the suffering of Nigerians and wants to find a lasting solution to it,” the official further explained.
“It is clear that some militancy is being propagated against the people by the elite who can secure the new notes no matter what while the people continue to suffer.
“The president will continue to engage and see the way out of the logjam.”
