Lokoja – Kogi State Government has set up a high-powered Committee to enforce compliance and full adherence to the Supreme Court judgment which extended the validity of the old N1000 and N500 notes to December 31, 2023.
The state Commissioner for information, Kingsley Fanwo announced the decision in a statement in Lokoja on Friday.
“Members of the Committee are the 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, 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,” the statement said
The state government threatened to deal with banks, business premises and individuals still rejecting the old N1,000 and N500 as legal tender across the state.
Fanwo said rejecting the old notes is a violation of the Supreme Court judgment which has extended the validity of the old N1,000 and N500 notes to December 31, 2023.
Government said that any person and businesses that reject the old nara notes will be apprehended and prosecuted according to the laws of the land.
Fanwo said the reason the “Kogi State Government joined other State Governments in the country to pursue the case was 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.”
The Commissioner directed residents to report anyone that rejects the old naira notes to security and government authorities for immediate action.
“Also, banks that refuse to accept old naira deposits shall be sealed as the State Government will not accommodate financial institutions that willfully disobey court orders, moreso, the orders of the highest court in Nigeria.
“Kogites should note that since the banks are issuing the old naira notes, they are bound to also receive it.
“We cannot continue to kill our economy after the Supreme Court has granted us freedom,” he said.
(vitalnewsngr.com)
