Nigerians have welcomed the verdict of the Supreme Court for temporarily suspending Friday's deadline to end the use of old currency notes, which has led to a cash crunch across the country and beyond.

Most Nigerians interviewed by thegazellenews.com said the verdict showed that the CBN is facing the latest anti-people development.

A POS operator based in Alimosho Local Government of Lagos State, Kehinde Popoola, said in an interview, I commended the Apex court verdict for being on the side of Nigerians. The agonies Nigerians have gone through in the last few days have been unprecedented. You have your money in the bank and you can't withdraw it, neither the old notes nor the new ones. Tell me where this has happened in other countries of the world. The verdict is a great relief for us."


A chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Alimosho Local Government of Lagos State, Dele Ogundimu, also praised the Supreme Court.

"I am very happy for the court's verdict. It is the best move. It will make it easier for us. They need to release all the old and new naira notes because the pressure is too much. The CBN should have extended the deadline by at least six months which could make it easier for the new naira notes they circulated well,” he told Ogundi.

Pepper vendor Nimota Salami said: I very much welcome the court's verdict. The court has seen what average Nigerians are facing as a result of the CBN deadline We have all seen what the CBN deadline has done to us, the poor masses. We have money in the banks, we cannot put it in our hands. But with the court's verdict, we can now conduct our normal transactions. Things will be back to normal."

On his part, the university student Mutiu Ajadi said the verdict is a welcome development and a big relief to many Nigerians who are going through hard times as a result of the CBN deadline.

Our people have suffered greatly because of the incompetence of the CBN. The Supreme Court did the right thing. Suffering is unbearable. The shortage of new naira notes from banks led to chaotic scenes as people scrambled to get their hands on them.

There were skirmishes at ATMs, protests and mob attacks on commercial banks. The chaos has led to fears that it could affect the elections this month,” Ajadi told thegazellenews.com.

Last week, APC governors met with President Buhari and urged him to rethink the policy. However, Buhari reiterated the deadline and promised that the government would do "everything" to resolve the issues.

It is estimated that around 60 percent of Nigeria's adult population does not have a bank account - especially those living in rural areas.

The CBN said the currency redesign and replacement policy, which was announced in October, would help it deal with inflation, currently at about 21 percent, by reducing the amount of cash in circulation. He added that 80 percent of the notes currently in circulation were kept outside financial institutions.

It said the new notes would be more difficult to counterfeit and also said it would limit the amount of withdrawals to promote a cashless society.

The deadline to stop using the old naira notes was originally January 31, but was extended to February 10 to give banks more time to introduce the new notes.

The decision of the Supreme Court follows a legal challenge initiated by the APC-governed northern states of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara earlier this month.

Their lawyers argued that the government's policies had led to an "intolerable situation that is almost leading to anarchy in the country".

The case was adjourned to February 15.

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