A new instruction regulating the acceptance of old and redesigned Naira notes has been sent by the Central Bank of Nigeria, or CBN, to all banks and Nigerian citizens.
The instruction was given by CBN on Wednesday in a statement made by Mrs. Sidi Hakama, the organization’s acting director of corporate communications.
The bank emphasized that all banknotes—both outdated and newly designed ones—remain valid forms of payment.
The order from the top bank coincides with the Supreme Court’s Wednesday decision to approve the federal government’s request to extend the deadline for using N200, N500, and N1,000 notes until December 31.
The CBN ordered all of its branches to keep issuing and accepting all denominations of Nigerian notes in response to the verdict of the supreme court.
The Supreme Court declared that both the redesigned and the older N200, N500, and N1000 banknotes will remain valid forms of payment in order to allay any confusion.
Consequently, all banknotes issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria would continue to be legal currency indefinitely, in accordance with Section 20(5) of the CBN Act 2007.
The statement read, “The public is urged to preserve and protect the lifecycle of the Naira banknotes by continuing to accept all of them—old or redesigned—for their regular transactions and to handle them with the utmost care.”
