The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has declared that the N200, N500, and N1000 old Naira notes have ceased to be legal tender in Nigeria since the expiration of the February 10, 2023 deadline. The declaration was made by the Branch Controller of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Bauchi, Haladu Idris Andaza.
Tribune reports that Andaza, however, explained that Nigerians with the old naira notes can swap them at any of the CBN branches nationwide.
Speaking with journalists, Andaza said,
In the last 24 hours, we have been besieged with queries from all angles of the general public concerning our operational guidelines on the old currency notes; nonetheless, there are so many issues here and there that people have been asking about. “For the avoidance of doubt, we desire to state unequivocally that the CBN is ready and willing to accept all of those old notes subject to specific restrictions and requirements’.
He restated that customers are free to come to the CBN branches as Commercial Banks will no longer accept the old notes, DailyTrust reported.
His words: “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.”
It would be recalled that a group of Northern governors had challenged the decision of the apex bank at the Supreme Court with the apex court ordering for a stay of action on the decision pending the hearing of the matter on February 15.
