Chukwuma Soludo, the governor of Anambra State, said the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has directed banks to dispense old naira notes.
Soludo said CBN governor Godwin Emefiele made the disclosure to him in a phone conversation on Sunday, March 12, 2023.
“Commercial banks have been directed by the Central Bank to dispense old currency notes and to also receive same as deposits from customers,” Soludo said.
“Tellers at the commercial banks are to generate the codes for deposits and there is no limit to the number of times an individual or company can make deposits.”
Soludo, a former CBN governor said Emefiele gave a directive at a Bankers’ Committee meeting held on Sunday, 12th March, 2023 that banks should dispense old naira notes.
Like Lagos State governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Ogun State’s Dapo Abiodun and Ondo State’s Rotimi Akeredolu, Soludo urged Anambra residents “to freely accept and transact their businesses with the old currency notes (N200; N500; and N1,000) as well as the new notes”.
“Residents should report any bank that refuses to accept deposits of the old notes. Anambra State Government will not only report such a bank to the CBN, but will also immediately shut down the defaulting branch,” Soludo said.
The Anambra governor’s disclosure comes 10 days after the Supreme Court ruled that old 500 and 1000 notes will remain legal tenders till December 2023.
Prior to the court ruling, the CBN informed Nigerians that their old naira notes ceased to be legal tender since Friday, February 10.
Businesses, commercial services, and individuals have been hard-hit by the implementation of the Naira redesign policy that caused a shortage of cash, culminating in violent protests and attacks on banks by individuals in different parts of Nigeria in February.
President Muhammadu Buhari thereafter said he understands the pain that Nigerians were going through to withdraw cash from the banks.
He directed the CBN to allow only the old 200 naira notes to coexist with the redesigned 200, 500 and 1000 naira notes.
Buhari said he sympathisers with Nigerians over the difficulties in accessing the new Naira notes.
He insisted that the Naira redesign was aimed at curbing inflation, and corruption, and improving transparency in cash flow to all sectors of the Nigerian economy.
It’s Final: ‘Old N200, N500, N1000 Naira Notes Have Ceased To Be Legal Tender’ – CBN Insists
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has declared that the old N200, N500 and N1000 have ceased being legal tender since February 10, 2023.
CBN had originally fixed January 31 as deadline for old notes to be in circulation but extended it in response to pressure from Nigerians.
However, before the February 10 deadline, Kogi, Kaduna and Zamfara States approached the Supreme Court, seeking that the CBN be restrained from going ahead with the deadline.
The Court answered their prayer and adjourned the case till February 15.
However, there has been silence on the part of the apex bank since the court gave its ruling.
The silence threw Nigerians into confusion on the state of the old notes, which were widely rejected but accepted in some places.
Commenting on the development in a chat with journalists, CBN Branch Controller in Bauchi, Haladu Idris Andaza, said the old notes were no longer legal tender.
“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.”
“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.”
Source: The Guardian