Nigeria’s Central Bank’s Naira redesign strategy, which gradually phased out the old 1000, 500, and 200 naira notes, continues to cause commotion around the nation as people struggle to obtain the new notes.
The Governor of the apex bank, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, allayed the fears of many who feared that the old naira notes would no longer be legal tender after the expiration of the February 10 deadline for the naira swap policy when he testified before the Ado Doguwa-led House of Representatives ad hoc committee on the naira redesign and naira swap policy.
Despite subsections (1) and (2) of this section, the CBN Act’s Section 20(3) states that the bank has the authority to call in any of its notes or coins upon the president’s direction and after giving reasonable notice in that regard. However, subject to Section 22 of the Act, any note or coin with respect to which a notice has been given under this subsection ceases to be legal tender upon the expiration of the notice.
So, after February 10, what will happen to your old notes?
1. The CBN will provide you the chance to exchange your money for new notes if you have old notes that you haven’t been able to deposit at your bank.
2. Before the cutoff, you have two options: pay it into your bank account or swap it at any office of an authorized agent. Your funds won’t be misplaced.
3. Following the cutoff, you can only redeem Naira for face value at the CBN, not at commercial banks.
4. The admission, however, is contingent on fulfilling a number of requirements. The CBN has not made the terms public.
Where are the CBN offices located in Nigeria?
There are CBN offices in each of Nigeria’s 36 state capitals. Please be aware that the CBN only has branches in the cities and states that are officially mentioned on the website of the apex bank. Please do not fall for con artists if you receive any letter referencing a CBN branch that is not on this list.
After the deadline has passed, the CBN will continue to accept old notes for an unspecified period of time.
Following the recent arrest by DSS agents of a syndicate engaging in the violation of the naira swap policy, the federal government is working with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Crimes Commission (ICPC), the Nigerian Intelligence and Finance Unit (NFIU), and other security agencies to ensure the smooth implementation of the naira swap policy.
The apex bank estimates that there are 1.5 million super agents and 30,000 agents that have been active, making it feasible to swap up to 10,000 Naira and guarantee coverage for more than 80% of Nigerians.
Citizens have responded strongly to the present trend because replacement naira notes are hard to come by. Many bank customers lack access to the notes since banks are either not dispensing the new notes to customers or the majority of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) are not operating.
Prior to the deadline, some stores and traders are reportedly refusing the old notes, while some local banking agents have increased their transaction processing fees.
