In Nigeria, the Central Bank has finally bowed to pressure to affirm the position of the country’s Apex Court that held that the old N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes remain legal tenders.

According to a statement (PDF) signed by the Central Bank’s Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Isa AbdulMumin in the late hours of Monday, the bank’s position is in “compliance with the established tradition of obedience to court orders and sustenance of the Rule of Law Principle that characterized the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, and by extension, the operations of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as a regulator, Deposit Money Banks operating in Nigeria have been directed to comply with the Supreme Court judgment of March 3, 2023.”

Nigeria has been on a recent trend of monetary policy in a bid to rescue its struggling economy. Nigeria’s apex bank recently announced plans to introduce new designs of the N200, N500, and N1,000 late last year.

The CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, at the time of introducing the policy in October 2022 revealed that the decision was birth out of a need for the bank to cut cash circulation amidst Nigeria’s growing inflation rate, particularly because “85% of the currency in circulation are outside the volts of our commercial banks.

According to Emefiele, “data indicates that N2.73 trillion out of the N3.23 trillion currency in circulation was outside the volts of commercial banks across the country.”

Months after, following a suit filed by some states of the Nigerian Federation, the Supreme Court stopped the Nigerian government and the CBN implementing an earlier deadline of January 31st for the notes as legal tenders.

But despite the Supreme Court’s position, the CBN maintained that the old currency has seized to be legal tender with commercial money banks already refusing the notes as deposits. Some Nigerians have been left stranded as the new notes remain scarce while the few old ones available are beginning to be refused.

Some analysts have argued that the redesigning the country’s currency and the limited supply of the new note is a deliberate plot by the outgoing president, Muhammad Buhari, who is believed to be committed to delivering a free and fair election to frustrate “vote buying” which has been characteristic of recent elections in Nigeria.

According to a Chatham House report on Nigerian electoral behaviour, “data gathered in 2018, in the second household survey conducted by the Chatham House Africa Programme’s Social Norms and Accountable Governance (SNAG) project, shows that three-quarters of people believe it is broadly unacceptable for anyone to exchange their vote for money or a gift. At the same time, they assume that at least half of the people in their community would be likely to sell their votes.”

However, with the current development as Nigerians are expected at the polls on Saturday for governorship and state Assembly (legislature) elections, it is left to be seen if the central bank’s latest position would result in the resurfacing of vote buying which was by Nigerian standard seemingly reduced during the controversial presidential elections of February 25.