THE REJECTED NAIRA NOTES

The news of Nigerians rejecting the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes have since broken the internet. This attitude of some towards the old notes have left most Nigerians in serious pain as most of them do not easily have access to the new notes.

This attitude was to be expected as Nigerians up until last Friday, the 10^th of February, 2023 didn’t know the fate of the old naira notes. This was as a result of the fact that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele had not said anything in response to the order of the Supreme Court restraining CBN from enforcing the February 10^th deadline for the old notes.

It is not hidden to all that there is an invisible battle between the Central Bank of Nigeria and some Politicians as a result of this policy, and Nigerians don’t know who to trust. The belief among some people is that as long as the CBN has not spoken, then its initial directive as to the deadline of 10^th of February, 2023 stands.  Others believe that the Supreme Court’s order supersedes the CBN’s directives.

I had written in my previous article that neither the Central Bank of Nigeria nor its Governor were parties to the suit at the Supreme Court of Nigeria, so it is very likely that they would claim that they are not bound by the order of the Supreme Court. This is because only parties to a suit are bound by a valid court order, nobody else. However, the Attorney General of the Federation had announced that the Federal government would comply with the order. I thought that would calm nerves of the citizenry.

Section 20 (5) of the CBN Act 2007 provides:

“A person who refuses to accept the Naira as a means of payment is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine of N50,000 or 6 months imprisonment”

By virtue of the provisions of the above section, any individual or organization that refuses to accept the Naira as a means of payment has committed an offence. As at the time of writing this article, some banks were seen to be rejecting the old notes. This is alarming because, some governors relying on the above law are now ordering the arrest of those rejecting old naira notes.

The question now is, how do you expect individuals to collect the said notes when the commercial banks which are the link between the Central Banks and the common man are rejecting same?

The commercial banks are the closest to the Central Bank and should know the provisions of the CBN Act better than the general public. I believe that if the governors are going for anyone it should be the banks and not those on the streets.

On the second note, there are those who strongly believe that there is a standing directive from the Central Bank which is binding on commercial banks. Therein lies the problem; no bank would dare defy the Central Bank of Nigeria for of losing their banking license. This group believes that until the CBN expressly says that the “old Naira” note is still acceptable as a legal tender in Nigeria, the “old Notes” are deemed illegal. “The new Naira” as it stands is the one authorized by the regulating body which is the CBN.

One wonders why the Central Bank is silent on this issue. Rather than addressing Nigerians on this, it announced that it would pump more new naira notes into circulation.

Another group believe that the commercial banks risk law suit from individuals should they refuse to accept the old notes.

Truth be told, this whole issue might lead to countless suits in the future.

I would however advise that as a business owner, you should accept the old notes to avoid being caught in a battle that doesn’t ordinarily concern you. If you are scared that your bank might reject all the cash in your possession, please you can make use of online payment as often as you can.

As for the rest of us, we wait till Wednesday, 15^th February, to know the fate of the “old Naira note”.