Banks Will Accept Old Naira Notes after February 10th deadline says CBN Governor

Temitope Adebayo

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele has said that banks will accept old naira notes after the deadline of February 10.

Emefiele said this while appearing before the House of Representatives committee on the new naira redesign and swap policy on Tuesday, January 30th, 2023.

He noted that Banks will continue to accept the old naira notes even after the deadline for swapping with the newly-designed currency notes,

The CBN Governor explained that the apex bank extended the deadline for the swap of the newly-designed N1,000, N500, and N200 notes following an outcry from Nigerians.

According to him, subject to Section 20, Subsection 3 of the CBN Act 2007 and even after the old currencies have lost legal tender status, the CBN will continue to accept the old notes.

The CBN governor who had earlier failed to honour the House’s invitations explained to the lawmakers that he was out of the country.

Speaking about the redesign of the naira, he said CBN’s actions were in line with international best practices and the apex bank has to be in control of the currency in circulation.

“The reason for directing banks to ensure only ATM withdrawals was to limit the daily withdrawal of individuals.”

Emefiele decried the trend of the new notes being sighted at parties and stated he was in meetings with commercial banks to mitigate it.

He further explained that the policies would hurt some persons but claimed it was in the interest of the country especially in combating insecurity.

Therefore, appealed to lawmakers to allow the programme to succeed.