Many Nigerians have expressed relief and happiness at the Supreme Court’s final judgment to make old notes legal tender until December 31, 2023. While there are many who are pleased with this decision, others remain skeptical about its effectiveness in light of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) having overlooked previous court decisions. On social media platforms such as Twitter, Ratecaptain has gathered comments from citizens regarding their thoughts on the judgment.
Ubah Jeremiah tweeted, “After all the unnecessary hardship that the Naira redesign policy has caused Nigerians, policymakers need to consider the impact of their decisions on citizens’ daily lives.” Hopefully, this judgment will make POS people to be reasonable.”
A PO analyst tweeted, “apparently, the Supreme Court waited to see who would win the election before ruling on this case. They needed to play it safe to save their job. Let’s all get ready to hold the Supreme Court accountable on Obi’s suit.”
Ndukwe Anyaogu tweeted, “Who is fooling who in this country? I just think the masses will totally reject this judgment. Honestly, we need to take a stand on this one. We have lost a lot of money trying to survive.”
Sensii tweeted, “How can you put millions of people through this stress for absolutely nothing?”
Great link tweeted: “This is too bad, why do we need to bring back what is not valid? Come December, we start the match again to deposit money and suffer the same suffering. Please, we like the way we are. We are coping little by little.”
Hube tweeted, “So all this suffering and loss for businesses, and also the whole money used to design the new Naira, is a waste?”
Adam Taofeek tweeted, “We’ve passed this level already; let’s just have more of the new notes in circulation and move on.”
“The “Supreme Court cannot order CBN to allow the use of an old note. It’s a monetary policy decision. The Supreme Court does not have the information that made CBN make that decision. CBN is independent.” Boye tweeted
The majority opinion is that while they welcome any form of assistance towards restoring economic stability, it may not be enough to undo all the damage caused by demonetization and other recent CBN policies that had a negative impact on businesses across Nigeria. They argue that even if new legislation is passed allowing for old notes to remain legal tender until December 31, 2023, does little for those whose livelihoods were destroyed when these policies were first implemented without considering the citizens.
While some Nigerians feel relieved by this decision from the Supreme Court, most still believe more needs to be done before true economic recovery can take place following years of hardship due to mismanagement and lackluster policy making by the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele.
