Finally, CBN pronounces ‘old naira notes no more legal tender’ in Nigeria

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 this year 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 going ahead with the deadline.

The court granted their prayer and adjourned the case till February 15 but the Federal Government, according to the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mallam Abubakar Malami (SAN), who had reportedly filed an appeal against the Supreme Court order, said the government would obey the court.

The DEFENDER had reported in understanding the government would obey the order only after its appeal would have been ruled upon meaning that status quo stands.

However, there has been silence on the part of the nation’s Central 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, reportedly 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,” the CBN said.

Our investigations revealed that not only the apex bank was not served in the proceeding leading to the court ruling but also, the issue at hand is not a case between state and Federal governments but between Central Bank and Executive arm of the Federal Government making any such order unimplementable.