The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has declared that the old N1000, N500, and N200 naira notes are no longer legal tender as of February 10, 2023, in contrast to what the Supreme Court ordered about the policy for the new naira notes.
The previous bills were no longer legal, according to Haladu Idris Andaza, the branch manager of the apex bank in Bauchi State, on Tuesday.
It's important to keep in mind that the CBN, under the direction of its Governor Godwin Emefiele, originally set a deadline of January 31 for the usage of old Naira notes, but they extended it in response to requests from Nigerians.
But before to the new deadline, the governors of the states of Kogi, Kaduna, and Zamfara petitioned the Supreme Court to order the CBN to postpone the deadline. In agreement, the judge adjourned the matter to February 15th.
However, following the court's ruling, the CBN has been silent.
Nigerians had no idea what was happening with the old notes, which were typically declined but occasionally accepted.
In a conversation with journalists, Andaza 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 that people have been asking about.”
“So, for the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state categorically that CBN is ready and is open 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 been seized to be legal tender since the 10th of this month.
“Consequently, the management of the CBN decided that those customers would 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 out the form, you generate a code, you either print it or come with it on your mobile phone, and 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.”