Old naira notes: Supreme Court serves order on Malami

The Supreme Court has served its ruling on naira redesign to Abubakar Malami Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice of Nigeria.

What this implies is that there is no excuse for not complying with the ruling.

A document seen by BusinessDay contains Drawn-up Orders of the Supreme Court in the currency redesign case with proof of service of the orders on the Attorney-General of the Federation.

Paragraphs 9 and 10 on the final page of the document stated that the old version of N200, N500 and N1,000 naira notes shall continue to be legal tender alongside with the new or redesigned version until December, 31, 2023, and that the reception of old N200, N500 and N1, 000 naira notes and the swapping of same with new naira notes shall continue till December, 31, 2023.

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The paragraphs particularly leave no more excuses to the President, AG Federation and Governor CBN for not complying with the orders, an analyst told BusinessDay.

According to a source, the documents were served Friday.

“I expect the CBN to issue Guidelines to banks stating that the 500 and 1000 notes will be released and telling them to put them back into circulation. Not later than Monday. It’s straightforward. Let’s see what they do,” the source said.

Hope Moses-Ashike

Hope Moses-Ashike is an Associate Editor, Banking and Finance, with more than a decade of experience reporting on Nigeria’s financial system and broader economy. She closely tracks market movements, monetary policy decisions, company disclosures, regulatory actions, economic indicators, and global developments, and interprets what they mean for businesses, investors, policymakers, and households. Her reporting helps readers understand complex issues such as inflation trends, foreign exchange market dynamics, interest rate decisions, bank performance, and investment risks. She also covers major international events and periodically travels to Washington, D.C., to report on the World Bank/IMF Spring and Annual Meetings. Her dedication to financial journalism has earned her multiple recognitions and invitations to high-level professional development programmes. She is an alumna of the International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) in the United States and holds an Advanced Financial Journalism Certificate from the Press Association Training in London, UK. Her other notable achievements include completing the Lagos Business School CMC Programme, the Bloomberg Media Africa Initiative Programme, and a Master Class in Journalism at Rhodes University in South Africa.