*Abubakar Malami, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, clarifies the Nigerian Government will obey the Supreme Court ruling on the February 10 deadline, which he states elapses Wednesday, February 15

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

As the seeming confusion over the Federal Government’s expected compliance, or otherwise enveloped the entire country early Friday, February 10, 2023, the Nigerian Government has stated the authorities will comply with the Supreme Court suspension order of the  deadline to swap old Naira notes for new ones.

It was learnt Mr. Abubakar Malami, Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister for Justice, said the government would obey the Supreme Court ruling on the February 10 deadline.

Malami, who spoke during an interview on Arise TV, said the Federal Government was hopeful that the ‘ex parte’ ruling which expires February 15, 2023, would be upturned.

The Minister stated: “An interim order was granted by the Supreme Court and that order was to lapse on Wednesday (February 15) and incidentally, that was the day the court fixed for hearing of the motion.

“With the position in mind, we have taken steps to file our objection challenging the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the matter.

He also said: “Jurisdiction on the ground that when you talk of monetary policy, Central Bank (of Nigeria) is an indispensable and necessary party in the matter.”

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), since end of January, had restated that Friday, February 10 would be the deadline for the use of old N200, N500, N1000 notes as a legal tender in the country.