CBN: Keep Spending Old Naira Notes,We Are Not Halting The Circulation
Written by News Desk on October 25, 2024
The Central Bank of Nigeria has described the information suggesting that old Naira notes shall cease to be a legal tender by December 31st this year as false and misleading.
The CBN in a statement expressed the belief that the misleading information is a calculated effort to disrupt the country’s payment system.
“The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been drawn to discussions at different fora suggesting that the old series of the N200, N5OO, and N1,000 banknotes shall cease to be legal tender on December 31, 2024.
We wish to state categorically that such claims are false and calculated to disrupt the country’s payment system.
For the avoidance of doubt, the order of the Supreme Court of Nigeria on Wednesday, November 29, 2023, granting the prayer of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to extend the use of old Naira banknotes ad infinitum, subsists .
Similarly, the CBN’s directive to all its branches to continue to Issue and accept all denominations of Nigerian banknotes, old and re-designed, to and from deposit money banks (DMBs) remains in force.
It will be recalled that the Supreme Court ordered that the old series of N200, N5OO, and N1 ,000 banknotes shall continue to be legal tender alongside the redesigned versions. Accordingly, all banknotes issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will continue to remain legal tender indefinitely.
We, therefore, advise members of the public to disregard suggestions that the said series of banknotes will cea.se to be legal tender on December 31, 2024” It reads.
According to the statement,the CBN urges Nigerians to continue to accept all Naira banknotes for their day-to-day transactions and handle them with the utmost care to safeguard and protect their lifecycle.
The CBN also encourages the public to embrace alternative modes of payment, echannels, in order to reduce pressure on the use of physical cash.
