CBN earlier fixed January 31 as the deadline for facing out the old Naira notes, but reversed itself and extended it after pressure from Nigerians
By Kehinde Okeowo
The apex Nigerian bank, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reiterated that old N200, N500 and N1000 stopped being legal tenders from February 10, 2023, despite a Supreme Court order.
Prior to this development, the CBN had fixed January 31 as the deadline for facing out the old Naira notes, but reversed itself and extended it by 10 more days following pressure from the Nigerian public.
However, before the February 10 deadline was due, governors of Kogi, Kaduna and Zamfara States filed a suit asking the Supreme Court to stop the CBN from enforcing the new deadline.
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The apex Court in Nigeria after listening to the pleas of the 3 states answered their prayer and adjourned the case till February 15.
Reacting, the apex bank who has been silent since the Supreme court’s ruling, through its Branch Controller in Bauchi, Haladu Idris Andaza, insisted the old Naira notes are no longer legal tender.
He said: “In the last 24 hours, we have been inundated by questions from various angles of the general public about our operational guidelines on the old currency notes, be that as it may, there are so many questions here and there which people have been asking about.”
“So for the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state categorically that CBN is ready and is opened to receiving all of those old notes based on certain conditions and criteria. Customers are free to come to the Bank and deposit which they cannot do at the Commercial Banks anymore because the currency has seized to be a legal tender since the 10th of this month.
“Consequently, the management of the CBN decided that those customers will have a sigh of relief by coming to the offices of the CBN in all the 36 states in the Federation including FCT to deposit their money.
“The customer has to go to the CBN portal and fill a form in the portal, there will be a form there concerning this currency redesign and exchange. After filling the form, you generate a code, you either print it or come with it on your mobile phone, give us the code and the information contained therein. In the form, you are expected to provide all the basic information about yourself, your account details and the amount you want to deposit.”
“By the time you have done it correctly, you come to the CBN where the code will be accepted from you as well as the money, process and confirm the genuineness or otherwise of the money to avoid receiving fake notes because there are some fake notes in circulation now.”
