The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has declared that the old Naira notes of N200, N500, and N1000 have ceased to be legal tender in Nigeria since the 10th of February, 2023, despite the Supreme Court order temporarily halting the deadline for the old naira notes.
The declaration was made by the Branch Controller of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Bauchi, Haladu Idris Andaza, while briefing journalists on Monday at the CBN branch in Bauchi.
In an effort to provide relief and convenience for customers, they are allowed to deposit their money at any one of the CBN’s 36 offices located throughout Nigeria, including the FCT, without having any difficulty or hassle. To do so, customers need only fill out a form available on the portal that is related specifically to currency redesign and exchange processes, as explained by Mr. Andaza himself.
In his statement, he disclosed that “in the last 24 hours, CBN has 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 that people have been asking about,” he added.
“Consequently, the management of the CBN decided that those customers would breathe a sigh of relief by coming to the offices of the CBN in all 36 states in the Federation, including the FCT, to deposit their money.
“The customer has to go to the CBN portal and fill out a form in the portal; there will be a form there concerning this currency redesign and exchange.”
Andaza further explained that “after filling out the form, you generate a code, which you either print or bring with you on your mobile phone, and 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.
“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, processed, and the genuineness or otherwise of the money confirmed to avoid receiving fake notes because there are some fake notes in circulation now.”
He warned that “if anyone wants to try us by bringing in fake notes, he should be ready to be arrested, so don’t go and print old fake naira notes and bring them to the CBN, whatever happens to you, don’t blame us, you caused it.”
“We will receive the money from you and do our internal checks before we give you an acknowledgment, which is evidence to show that we have collected that amount from you, and we go ahead with our internal processes, and we now hit your account and credit it through your commercial bank,” he assured.
Dr. Abdulkadir Jibril, the CBN Team Lead for Bauchi who is also the Apex Bank’s Director of Medical Services, explained in his remarks that “it is a point we have made before; I just want to emphasize it: not everyone in Bauchi state is privileged to be here, and so there is the moral and professional responsibility on their shoulders to ensure that this information gets to every nook and cranny of the state and even beyond.”
He emphasized that “there is a limited time that has been given by the government and the law, just as I have emphasized earlier on, and it is the magnanimity of the government, so this is just an additional time and opportunity to assist people to get their monies into their bank accounts safely so that nobody misses a dime or loses any money.”
Jibrin concluded by saying, “I am appealing to our people, both men and women, to carry or propagate this message everywhere so that people can do the needful.”
