Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele has disclosed that commercial banks in Nigeria will still accept old naira notes from customers after the February 10 deadline.
He disclosed this while appearing before the ad hoc committee set up by the House of Representatives on the CBN naira redesign policy.
He, however, did not state how long the expired notes would be admitted by the banks.
Emefiele further made reference to the CBN act which mandates the apex bank to continue to accept old notes after their expiration.
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 on 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, the CBN boss explained that even after the old currency has lost its legal tender status, “we (CBN) are mandated to collect this money (old notes) and I stand with the House of Representatives on this”.
He added: “What does that mean? It could (old notes) have lost its legal tender status which means we have moved on. But if you have 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 an exchange, we will give you. You will not lose your money. This is the assurance I give to Nigerians.’’