The judgment on a suit filed by some state governments to challenge the federal government’s naira redesign policy is ongoing at the Supreme Court.
A 7 member panel of the Supreme Court led by Justice Inyang Okoro, had on 22 of last month, heard the case and adjourned until today for judgment.
The monetary policy being challenged at the Supreme Court had last year introduced newly redesigned N200, N500, and N1,000 notes with a deadline to mop up the old notes from circulation.
The policy had led to scarcity of currency notes and a January 31 deadline initially set for ending the legal tender status of the old notes was extended to February 10.
Similarly, about 50 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), representing various parties are in the court.
The 16 states led by Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara are praying the apex court to void and set aside the policy on the grounds that it is inflicting hardships on innocent Nigerians.
The plaintiff have accused President Muhammadu Buhari of usurping the function of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the introduction and implementation of the policy and asked that the directive issued by Buhari be voided.
On its part, the Federal Government challenged the jurisdiction of the apex court on the grounds that the CBN was not joined as a party and that the dispute on the policy ought to be directed at the CBN so that the suit can be referred to the Federal High Court.
Reporting by Ifeoma Nwovu; Editing by Muzha Kucha