The founder of Stanbic IBTC and Anap Foundation, Atedo Peterside, said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) confiscated naira in the guise of naira redesign.
The ex-Stanbic IBTC boss’ comment came hours after the Supreme Court ruled that old N200, N500, and N1000 notes should remain legal tender until December 31, 2023
CBN introduced the naira redesign policy in October 2022 and gave January 31 as the deadline for Nigerians to return to old naira notes in their possession.
The bank then extended the deadline to February 10, 2023, after which it declared the old N200, N500, and N1000 notes illegal.
The action caused queues in banks and ATMs as CBN did not release enough naira notes into circulation.
Peterside stated in a tweet on Friday, March 3, after the Supreme Court ruling on old naira notes.
The court said CBN needed to give Nigerians more notice before introducing the new naira notes.
Peterside tweeted:
“I agree that CBN did not give adequate notice & so currency redesign became “confiscation.”
“CBN’s autonomy is on Monetary Policy which does not & cannot stretch into the “confiscation of an entire asset class” (old notes) which is still held by the States and Private Citizens”.
I agree that CBN did not give adequate notice & so currency redesign became "confiscation".
CBN's autonomy is on Monetary Policy which does not & cannot stretch into the "confiscation of an entire asset class" (old notes) which is still held by the States and Private Citizens 🙏🏽— Atedo Peterside (@AtedoPeterside) March 3, 2023
Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling, Nigerians queued at ATMs as the CBN has yet to react to the apex bank’s ruling.
Commercial banks had resumed the collection of old naira notes after the presidential election, which draped a lull in the economy.
The move contradicts the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) statement that it did not ask banks to collect the customers’ old N500 and N1,000 notes.
The banks still collecting are Guarantee Trust Bank, First Bank, and Sterling Bank
