The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, has been urged by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) to order the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to heed the Supreme Court’s ruling extending the legality of the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes.
The Supreme Court issued its decision on the CBN’s naira redesign program on Friday, stating that the previous notes are still valid until December 31, 2023.
The group requested that President Buhari publicly direct the CBN to quickly and fully implement the Supreme Court ruling ordering an end to the cash withdrawal restrictions imposed by banks since such restrictions violate people’s freedom to utilize their property as they like.
SERAP also urged the President “to disclose the measures that your government is taking to direct the CBN to immediately re-circulate the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes, as ordered by the Supreme Court.”
SERAP stated this in a letter dated March 4, 2023, and signed by the organisation’s deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare.
It noted that disclosing the measures that the Federal Government and the CBN are taking to implement the Supreme Court decision would also enable Nigerians to monitor and scrutinise the level of compliance with the decision.
SERAP said the public should not be kept in the dark on what the FG and the CBN are doing to implement the decision, saying widely publishing the implementation measures would also improve accountability of state officials and public confidence in the rule of law and Nigeria’s democracy.