THE Kaduna State government has directed Ministries, Departments and Agencies to accept payments in old naira and new notes contrary to the directive of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd).
A statement by Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Muyiwa Adekeye, on Sunday, noted that the directive became necessary following the Supreme Court’s order that allowed the use of old naira notes as legal tender.
The statement was titled, “KDSG asks agencies to accept payments in old and new notes.”
It stated, “in line with the subsisting order of the Supreme Court, the Kaduna State government has directed its ministries, departments and agencies to ensure that their collection agents continue to accept payments made in all denominations of the naira, old and new.
“The laws of Kaduna State do not allow personnel of government agencies to be involved in cash collection of revenues.
“The collection agents authorised by state government agencies do offer citizens a route for cash payment, and are expected to comply with the subsisting court order.”
Hobnob News reports that President Muhammadu Buhari while addressing the nation, had said the old N500 and N1,000 banknotes were no longer legal tender in the country. He, however, said the old N200 note would be legal tender for the next 60 days, till April 10, 2023, while urging Nigerians to deposit their old N500 and 1000 notes with the CBN.
In a complete disregard to the President’s directive on the N500, and N1000 naira notes to be deposited in the various branches of the Central Bank of Nigeria across the country El-Rufai urged residents of the state, to continue the use of the old naira notes.
El-Rufai had also knocked the Federal Government for disobeying the Supreme Court order restraining her from banning the use of the old naira notes.
