The Kogi government has established a committee to address the issue of widespread rejection of old naira notes in the state.
The state has been the counterpart of most other states in terms of the prevailing practice despite the Supreme Court’s ruling that restored the old N500 and N1,000 notes as a legal tender until ending of this year amid the untold hardship arising from the naira redesign and swap policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
On Friday, a statement the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Femi Fanwo released, contained those in the committee; Commissioner for Finance, Budget and Economic Planning; Commissioner for Information and Communications; Commissioner for Commerce and Industry; the State Security Adviser and the Managing Director and Kogi Enterprise Development Agency.
“The committee is to ensure that our people take full benefits of the Supreme Court ruling on the old naira notes and ease the hardship they have been subjected to by the policy that brought so much hardship to the people,” Fanwo said of the members’ terms of reference.
Remarking further on the pressing matter: “The state government will not accommodate financial institutions that willfully disobey court orders, moreso, the orders of the highest court in Nigeria.
“The reason the Kogi State Government joined other state governments in the country to pursue the case to ease the hardship occasioned by the unavailability of the new naira notes, which the court fully granted.
“It is therefore unacceptable that some persons and businesses will continue to reject the use of the old naira notes, even after the court judgement validating their use.
“Rejecting the old naira notes is a clear disobedience of the Supreme Court ruling. Anyone who rejects the old naira notes should be reported to security and government authorities for immediate action.”
