By Chiazo Ogbolu
Some maritime stakeholders on Friday commended the Supreme Court’s order to extend the use of old Naira notes as a legal tender till Dec. 31, 2023.
They gave their commendations in separate interviews with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Friday.
NAN reports that three northern states of Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara, on Feb. 3, sought the Supreme Court’s order extending the validity of the old N200, N500, and N1, 000 notes.
NAN also reports that the number of plaintiffs rose to 16 after six new states were added to the three initial plaintiffs during the hearing of the case on Feb. 22.
The Supreme Court, on Friday, ordered the Federal Government to allow the old Naira notes to continue as legal tender till Dec. 31, 2023.
Dr Kayode Farinto, acting President, Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), told NAN that cargo movement, in the last two weeks, had been slowly down.
According to Farinto, the apex bank ruling is a good development and good for the economy.
“Honestly, I am very happy. People can now go and carry their cargo trapped in the port.
“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 effontry and zeal to be able to interpret the rule of law,” he said.
In his own contribution, a shipper, Rev. Jonathan Nicole, 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 their 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.
He noted that the cash swap policy made a lot of goods to be trapped in the port, adding that apex court’s order was a relief for shipers in terms of their consignments, as they would now get the Naira to do businesses.
“This is a cheering news, at least most of the crowd at banks will rest especially the elderly ones,” he said.
Also, Mrs Joy Monije, Public Relations Officer, Tincan chapter of ANLCA, told NAN that she prayed banks would start having the old notes by Monday, saying, “even when the old N200 notes wère still in use, it was difficult getting it.
“We pray that by Monday everything will return to normal as we and our cargoes have really suffered with the cash crunch,” she said. (NAN)
