‘Cargoes can now leave ports’ — maritime stakeholders hail s’court verdict on old naira

Stakeholders in the maritime sector have expressed hope that the latest supreme court ruling extending the use of the old naira notes as legal tender until December 31, 2023, would allow goods trapped in ports to be cleared.

The maritime players spoke in separate interviews with NAN in Lagos on Friday.

The naira redesign policy was announced in October last year and soon after, the new notes began circulation on December 15, 2022.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had initially issued a deadline of January 31, 2023 for the public to deposit all their old notes but it was later extended to February 10, following widespread outcry over the accompanying cash scarcity.

As a result, some states like Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara, on February 3, sought the supreme court’s order in extending the validity of the old N200, N500, and N1, 000 notes.

The number of plaintiffs later rose to 16 after more states joined Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara as plaintiffs in the suit against the federal government on the policy.

Giving its final judgement on the matter on Friday, the apex court ruled that old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes should continue as legal tender until December 31, 2023.

Speaking on the development, Kayode Farinto, acting president of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), said cargo movement has been slow in the last two weeks.

Farinto said the supreme court’s ruling was a good development for the economy.

“Honestly, I am very happy. People can now go and carry their cargo trapped in the port,” he said. 

“Its unfortunate what people experienced recently. I was in Britain last February 2022 when the Queen died and it took them one whole year to change their currency, but here, we want to jump before crawling.

“I give kudos to the supreme court, for having the effrontery and zeal to be able to interpret the rule of law,” he said.

On his part, Jonathan Nicole, a shipper, urged everyone to obey the supreme court’s order as it was the highest court in the land.

According to Nicole, the common man has faith in the supreme court and it has given its verdict concerning the interest of everyone in the country.

“No matter how painful this decision is, we should be able to perfect it,” he said.

Nicole added that the cash swap policy made a lot of goods to be trapped in the port, adding that the supreme court order was a relief for shippers in terms of their consignments, as they would now get the naira to do business.

“This is a cheering news, at least most of the crowd at banks will rest, especially the elderly ones,” he said.

Also, Joy Monije, public relations officer, Tincan chapter of ANLCA, said even when the old N200 notes were in use, it was difficult getting it.

She expressed hope that banks would start recirculating the old notes by Monday.

“We pray that by Monday everything will return to normal as we and our cargoes have really suffered from the cash crunch,” she said.