In accordance with the Supreme Court decision that prolonged the validity of the N500 and N1000 old notes until December 2023, Ekiti State Governor Biodun Oyebanji has urged residents to continue accepting both the old and new naira notes as a legal tender.
The governor urged all companies doing business in Ekiti State to uphold the law and continue to accept old naira notes.
He also urged banks “to make the naira notes available in all their branches and pay points and to all traders, business owners, service providers, okada riders, drivers, filling stations, gas plants, supermarkets, schools, hospitals, POS operators, to start accepting the old notes forthwith.
“To do otherwise would amount to defying the ruling of the highest court in the country and thwarting government efforts at reducing the hardship of the people,” he said.
The governor stated that it was illegal for any business owner or service provider to reject the old notes in a statement released on Saturday by his Special Adviser on Media, Yinka Oyebode, adding that the “government will not hesitate to arrest and prosecute business owners found rejecting the old naira notes”.
While expressing concern over complaints that many business concerns in the state refused to accept the old naira notes as means of transaction, Oyebanji said, “This is an appeal to all residents of Ekiti State to abide by the ruling of the Supreme Court which provides a reprieve for the people by extending the validity date of the old naira notes till December 31.
“The state government had joined other states to seek the intervention of the Supreme Court in reversing the new naira policy which the states averred had inflicted excruciating pain and hardship on the people in addition to crippling economic activities.”
As honorable people, he urged them to follow the Supreme Court’s decision and continue using the old naira notes as a form of payment rather than rejecting it and putting each other through more suffering.
He promised that his administration would keep looking into ways to give our citizens’ lives more purpose as we work to create a more affluent state.
