Nigerian Supreme court temporarily halts the federal government ban on old naira denominations

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged Nigeria’s Federal Government and Central Bank to increase the cutoff date for the use of the 200, 500, and 1000 naira notes as authorized tender. IMF’s consultant in Nigeria, Ari Aisen, on Wednesday mentioned in a press release, “In light of hardships caused by disruptions to trade and payments due to the shortage of new bank notes available to the public, in spite of measures introduced by the CBN to mitigate the challenges in the banknote swap process, the IMF encourages the CBN to consider extending the deadline, should problems persist in the next few days leading up to the February 10, 2023 deadline.” 

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has temporarily stopped the Federal Government from banning the use of older 200, 500, and 1,000 naira denominations ranging from February 10, 2023. This ruling was made by a seven-member panel led by Justice John Okoro, in response to a request filed by Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara States. On Wednesday, the three states requested a short lived injunction, which temporarily prohibits a celebration from taking a selected motion till a full listening to may be held. As a outcome, the old naira notes will stay authorized tender regardless of the February 10 deadline, till their request for an interlocutory injunction may be heard and determined. The primary lawsuit listening to has been adjourned to February 15, 2023 by Justice Okoro.

Mr. A. I. Mustapha, the legal professional for the candidates, efficiently satisfied the Supreme Court to grant the software to temporarily halt the implementation of the government coverage. Mustapha argued that the coverage has led to a dire state of affairs near anarchy in the nation. He cited information from the Central Bank of Nigeria displaying that over 60% of the inhabitants shouldn’t have a checking account and those that do have accounts can not entry their funds on account of the coverage. He warned that the state of affairs, which is already extreme and chaotic, will solely worsen as extra business banks are pressured to shut.

Banks shut down as deadline inches nearer

The money scarcity has worsened, with some banks in  Akure shutting down on account of worries about potential harm from demonstrations and confrontations with disgruntled clients. Protests have taken place in the capital cities of Ogun and Ondo, and in Sapon, based on studies, offended youths focused First Bank, breaking home windows and inflicting harm to the financial institution’s property.

There are additionally studies of individuals making a enterprise from the lengthy ATM queues. According to studies, folks with no intentions to withdraw arrive at the ATM factors as early as attainable, choose numbers, be part of lengthy queues and promote their slots to impatient clients in the similar queue. They promote the slots for N500-N1,500 relying on their place on the queue.

As we earlier reported, POS brokers proceed to take advantage of the shortage, charging withdrawing clients about 10-20% of withdrawn money.

In different information, Sterling Bank has suspended transaction charges for all of its private account holders and introduced that it will likely be giving out free debit playing cards to its clients in its bid at encouraging e-banking and digital fee.

The CEO of Sterling Bank, Abubakar Suleiman, despatched a private electronic mail to Sterling’s purchasers, through which he acknowledged the challenges that many purchasers are dealing with. To help them, Suleiman introduced that “From February 6th to 18th, 2023, our fund transfer services will be provided free of charge to all personal account customers. In addition, we are glad to inform you that we will provide free Debit Cards to all interested customers. This will provide you with a convenient and secure way to make purchases and carry out transactions.”

The announcement has been met with combined reactions, with some people stating they are going to shut their accounts in different banks that they understand to be insensitive to the difficulties they’ve confronted with the implementation of the new money insurance policies and the distribution of the new Naira notes.

Dante Martins, the CMO of Sterling, addressed the media concerning the program, stating that that is the first of its variety by a Nigerian business financial institution and inspiring different banks to comply with swimsuit. According to Martins, by eradicating transaction prices throughout this era and selling the use of digital options, Sterling goals to supply its clients with a extra handy banking expertise and scale back their dependence on bodily money.