The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said on Tuesday that the February 10, 2023 deadline for old Naira notes swap still stands just as it declared that the old N200, N500 and N1000 have ceased to be legal tender.
According to the CBN Gov. Godwin Emefiele, there is no need to shift grounds on the deadline since the situation is “substantially calming down as regards the cash crunch due to the commencement of over the counter payments to complement ATM disbursements.
He made the disclosure during a visit on Tuesday to the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss monetary and currency redesign policy of the apex bank.
Persecondnews reported that the Supreme Court had in a ruling restrained the Federal Government from implementing the February 10 deadline for the currency swap.
Emefiele said: “The situation is substantially calming down since the commencement of over-the-counter payments to complement ATM disbursements and the use of super-agents.
“There is, therefore, no need to consider any shift from the deadline of February 10.”
He also said that Point of Sale agents who charge above N200 for the CBN cash swap programme will be arrested and jailed.
“Point of Sale (PoS) operators should desist from over charging customer, but rather they should come to the CBN to be compensated.”
On the status of the old N200, N500 and N1000 bank notes, the CBN Branch Controller in Bauchi, Mr Haladu Idris, said the old notes were no longer legal tender since February 10.
“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 which people have been asking about.
“So for the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state categorically that CBN is ready and is opened to receive 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 seized to be a legal tender since the 10th of this month.
“Consequently, the management of the CBN decided that those customers will 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 the form, you generate a code, you either print it or come with it in your mobile phone, 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,” he said.
“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.”
Leave a comment