The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has stated that banks will continue to accept old naira notes after the deadline.
Emefiele addressed an interactive session with the House of Representatives ad hoc committee on currency reform and naira swap policy on Tuesday.
He also stated that the CBN will accept old naira from banks after the February 10 deadline.
Emefiele referred to the CBN Act, which requires the central bank to continue accepting old notes after they have expired.
However, the CBN governor did not specify when banks would stop accepting outdated currencies.
Section 20 (3) of the CBN act states: “Notwithstanding sub-sections (1) and (2) of this section, the bank shall have power, if directed to do so by the president and after giving reasonable notice in that behalf, to call in any of its notes or coins on payment of the face value thereof and any note or coin with respect to which a notice has been given under this sub-section, shall, on the expiration of the notice, cease to be legal tender, but, subject to section 22 of this act, shall be redeemed by the bank upon demand”.
Speaking further on the CBN act, he explained that even after the old currency has lost its legal tender status “we (CBN) are mandated to collect these money (old notes) and I stand with the house of representatives on this”.
“What does that mean? It could (old notes) have lost its legal tender status which means we have moved on. But if you have your money that you have not been able to send to the bank, we will certainly give you the opportunity to bring them back into the CBN to redeem it. Either you pay it to your bank account or you want to do exchange, we will give you. You will not lose your money. This is the assurance I give to Nigerians,” Emefiele said.
