Recall that the Nigerian Supreme Court had ordered that the old N500 and N1000 notes phased out by the Federal Government be kept in circulation until December.
Some commercial banks in Nigeria on Monday began dispensing the old N500 and N1000 Naira notes on Monday, SaharaReporters has gathered.
A resident of Ilorin, Kwara State confirmed to SaharaReporters that the ATM machines of Guaranty Trust Bank at Umar Audu Road, Opposite University Road Junction, Tanke, GRA, 10, Ilorin paid him some old N1,000 notes.
A banker who also spoke to SaharaReporters corroborated this.
He said some banks had started dispensing the old notes but his bank had not got the go-ahead yet because of uncertainty surrounding the validity of the notes as legal tenders in the country.
Daily Trust also reported that no fewer than three banks in Abuja, issued out old N500 and N1000 notes to customers in Abuja on Monday while a bank in Kano also did the same.
Recall that the Nigerian Supreme Court had ordered that the old N500 and N1000 notes phased out by the Federal Government be kept in circulation until December.
But the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has yet to react to the apex court’s decision on the policy which has subjected Nigerians to hardships in recent weeks.
A seven-member panel of justices presided over by Justice Inyang Okoro ruled unanimously that President Muhammadu Buhari's directive to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to redesign and withdraw old notes of N200, N500, and N1,000 without consulting the states, the Federal Executive Council (FEC), the National Council of State, and other stakeholders was unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court observed that no reasonable notice was provided prior to the implementation of the policy, as required by the CBN Act.