On Monday, both the Presidency and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, finally bowed to pressure to end the two months Naira crisis in the country.
The apex bank, a few hours after the presidency absolved itself of blame, directed commercial banks to henceforth accept the N200, N500 and N1000 old naira notes as legal tender in line with the March 3 ruling of the Supreme Court.
This came about 24 hours to the ultimatum issued by some state governors, after which they would file contempt charges against the CBN and the Attorney-General of the Federation.
The apex’s bank decision was contained in a statement issued Monday night by the bank’s acting Director of Corporate Communications, Dr Isa Abdulmumin.
The statement added that the old naira notes are to remain legal tender till December 31 2023.
The CBN’s decision is barely hours after President Muhammadu Buhari clarified that the Central Bank of Nigeria has no excuse to disobey the Supreme Court ruling on the naira redesign.
Shehu Garba, senior special assistant to Buhari on Media and Publicity, disclosed this on Monday.
Recall that in the first week of March, the highest Court in Nigeria ruled on the validity of the old Naira notes’ acceptance till December 31.
