Old Bank Notes No Longer Legal Tender says CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has made it clear to all Nigerians that with effect from February 10, the old bank notes of N200, N500 and N1000 are not legal tender, despite the Apex court ruling.

CBN made the clarification when accessing the issues and pressure arising the naira swap of N200, N500 and N1000 against the wish of many Nigerians, especially our loyal politicians who have busy schedule ahead of the 2023 General Elections in Nigeria.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele has advised all Nigerians to heed the decision of the Apex Bank and follow all guidelines for the smooth swapping process of the new redesigned bank notes, which are already in circulation, but not much as expected due to problem beyond their control at this critical moment.

The Apex bank has also directed all commercial banks to stop collecting the old bank notes from the general public that it is no longer a legal tender. 

It means any Nigerians in possession of these old bank notes cannot longer used them to make purchases nationwide.

CBN also warned POS operators to stop the high billing to customers during this moment of naira swap and the secretive moves of some Nigerians conniving with banks.

The unavailability of the new bank notes is primarily due to the interior motives of some Nigerians that have connived with bank executives toward their selfish interest, which the apex bank is working tirelessly with security operatives to salvage the situation.

Please note that the old bank notes can only be deposited (retrieved) through CBN offices nationwide at the moment, not at any commercial or micro-finance banks.

We urge our compatriotic Nigerian men and women, young and old, to avoid the continuous use of the old bank notes of N200, N500 and N1000 and embrace the new naira notes as expected.

Nigerians are most hopeful that the current naira swap crisis and fuel scarcity issues will not affect the success of the 2023 General Elections as being speculated in some quarters.

CBN says the old bank notes of N200, N500 and N1000 are no longer legal tender in any part of the country with effect from 10 February, 2023 despite the ruling of the Supreme Court verdict, where it restrained the apex bank from implementing the February 10th deadline and advised CBN to extend the day deadline to February 15 as published by Felix Omoko's Blog.

Situation report across quarters show that many Nigerians are stop collecting the old bank notes for business transactions and the unavailability of the new bank notes in banks are the major issue at the moment.