By Jimmy
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has instructed Nigerians to continue collecting old and new Naira notes, reiterating that all banknotes remain legal tender.
The apex bank’s comment comes as Nigerians continue to scramble for new notes ahead of December 31st, which was fixed during the previous administration as the deadline to phase out the old naira notes.
A statement released on Wednesday, however, reiterated that both the old and new notes remain legal tender until further notice. The apex bank further disclosed that all branches of CBN across the country had been directed to continue issuing different denominations of both the old notes and the redesigned ones to deposit money banks.
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“For the avoidance of doubt, while reiterating that there are sufficient banknotes across the country for all normal economic activity, we wish to state unambiguously that every banknote issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) remains legal tender and should not be rejected by anyone as stipulated in Section 20 (5) of the CBN Act,2007,” the statement partly read.
Recall that the immediate past CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, had introduced a redesigned naira note in the buildup to the 2023 general election, with plans to phase out the old naira note. Emefiele explained that the move was taken to encourage cashless policy and to discourage vote-buying at the general elections in 2023.
The embattled former CBN governor also placed an embargo on withdrawal limits, which was later reviewed.
