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APC Backs Governors On Naira Redesign Policy, Urges Nigerian Central Bank, Attorney General To Respect Supreme Court Ruling

APC Backs Governors On Naira Redesign Policy, Urges Nigerian Central Bank, Attorney General To Respect Supreme Court Ruling
February 20, 2023

He said the party was in support of the position of the governors on the controversial policy.

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu and the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) have called on the Nigerian Government to obey the ruling of the Supreme Court on the controversial naira swap policy.

 

Last year, the Central Bank of Nigeria announced that it would redesign N200, N500 and N1000 banknotes, saying old notes should be swapped for new ones by January 31.

 

Following several appeals made by Nigerians, the deadline was moved to February 10. However, a Supreme Court ruling suspended the February 10 deadline.

 

A week after the Supreme Court ordered the Nigerian government to allow the continued use of old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes, President Muhammadu Buhari countered that order.

 

In his national broadcast last Thursday, Buhari announced that the old N500 and N1000 notes had ceased to be legal tender but extended the deadline for N200 notes to April 10.

 

But some states including Kaduna, Ogun, and Kano have announced that the old notes should still be considered as legal tender in their domain, based on the Supreme Court ruling. The state governments also threatened to sanction any bank that rejects the old notes until the apex court says otherwise.

 

However, after a meeting between Adamu and the APC governors in Abuja on Sunday over the controversial policy, the APC chairman read out the resolution of the meeting.

 

Adamu said they noted “very seriously that the programme and its implementation is causing tremendous difficulties to the people of Nigeria and to the national economy”.

 

He said they resolved that the Attorney General of the Federation (Abubakar Malami) and Central Bank governor (Godwin Emefiele) should “respect the Supreme Court order of interim injunction which is still subsisting”.

 

“That the meeting is urging His Excellency, Mr President to intervene in resolving issues that are causing these great difficulties to the economy,” the statement added.

 

He said the party was in support of the position of the governors on the controversial policy.