Warri: Banks direct customers to stop collecting old naira notes, despite Supreme Court order, National Council of States’ advice

Officials of the NPA New Port branch of Fidelity Bank and one of the First Bank branches in Warri, Delta State, this morning, Monday February 13, addressed customers, directing them to stop collecting the old naira notes with immediate effect, despite the Interim order by the Supreme Court last week and the advice by the National Council of States, that Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN should print more of the new naira notes or recirculate the old notes.

Fresh Angle International can exclusively report that the Branch Manager of Fidelity Bank, NPA New Port, Warri (name withheld) told customers, including Point-of-Sale, PoS operators that if they deposit the old naira notes in the bank, the bank will stamp the old notes and pay the money into the individual’s account, with a proviso that the affected customer(s) won’t be able to use the old money in their account, until further notice.

Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, had said while the Federal government would obey the Supreme Court ruling, which put on hold the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) demonetisation policy, the government would take necessary steps to set aside the interim order.

The Supreme Court had in a ruling on Wednesday February 8, suspended the CBN deadline for demonetisation policy and fixed Wednesday February 15 for hearing on the matter.

Interestingly, as at today, Monday February 13, the apex bank, has yet to issue any statement directing the Deposit Money Banks, DMBs to comply with the Supreme Court ruling and the advice by the National Council of States.

Rather than issue a refutal weekend, the CBN denied a story originally published by Premium Times, which gave credence to the National Council of States’ directive to the Apex bank, to print more new naira notes or recirculate the old naira notes.

The CBN, was silent on the foreign company it reportedly contracted to print the new naira notes for the country and the aspect of the report, which said the company placed CBN's request on queue ( Like the bank has placed Nigerians on queue to get their hard earned stipends).

The apex bank, claimed that the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company, has the capacity to print the new naira notes.

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