Deposit old naira notes in any CBN branch nationwide – CBN
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that the old Naira Notes of N200, N500, and N1000 have ceased to be legal tenders in Nigeria since the expiration of the February 10, 2023 deadline and said all old naira notes should be deposited in any CBN branch across the country.
This was disclosed by the Branch Controller of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Bauchi, Haladu Idris Andaza, while briefing journalists on Monday at the CBN branch in Bauchi.
READ ALSO: Old Naira Notes Validity: Supreme court restrains CBN from implementing Feb. 10 deadline
He said that “In the last 24 hours, we have been overwhelmed with 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.”
According to him, “So for the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state categorically that CBN is ready and is open 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 ceased 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.
Explaining further, Andaza said, “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,” he said.
He warned that anyone caught depositing fake notes will be arrested.
“So don’t go and print old fake naira notes and bring them to the CBN, whatever happens to you, don’t blame us, you caused it.”
He, however, assured that old notes will be received from Nigerians and internal checks will be conducted and the owner will receive an acknowledgment, which is evidence to show that the money has been collected.
“We go ahead with our internal processes, after finishing with the internal processes, we now hit your account and credit it through your commercial bank.
“All the commercial banks are expected to bring all old notes deposited to us and we will collect, that is the final.
Some of the Banks have started depositing with us because they want to close their books, as soon as they do that, they will not collect from customers again, that is the reason CBN decided to open this portal for the general public especially the vulnerable who are still having problems of cash used for trading and now that the deadline has expired, they need to deposit their money.
“The CBN is trying to minimise the risk involved in losing that money, we are trying to minimise hardship also, we know that people are having some hardship, people are suffering, we not unmindful of that fact, that why the management of the CBN has magnanimously decided to open that portal to assist those who were unable to deposit the money into their bank accounts, that is our process flow in a nutshell.
“The portal will be there, opened for some time, depending on the circumstances and the directives from the management, we expect that within this period, people should have been able to deposit all they have, it is a privilege given to Nigerians to ensure that they deposited that money even though they are no longer legal tender.
“For the people in the remote areas, if you can recollect, we have gone round virtually all the villages in Bauchi state with some commercial banks asking the people to open accounts which many of them did and were able to deposit their money, I doubt if there are still people who have not keyed into the system now who are still having old money.
“We used the media, NOA, and traditional rulers just to let the people know, no limit to the amount that can be deposited provided the form was properly filled.
“There are a lot of firewalls that can protect the people accessing the portal, no any cause for alarm.”
In his remarks, CBN Team Lead, Bauchi who is the Director, of Medical Services of the Apex Bank, Dr Abdulkadir Jibril explained that the extension was an opportunity to allow people to get their monies deposited.
“It is a point we have made before, I just want to emphasize it, not everybody in Bauchi state is privileged to be at this meeting and so, there is the moral and professional responsibility on their shoulders to ensure that this information gets to every nook and cranny of the state and even beyond.”
“There is a limited time that has been given by the government and the law, just as I have emphasized earlier on, it is the magnanimity of the government, so, this is just an additional time and opportunity to assist people to get their monies into their bank accounts safely so that nobody misses a dime or loses any money.
“I am appealing to our people both men and women to carry or propagate this message everywhere so that people can do the needful,” Jibrin noted.
Meanwhile, in another development, the Federal High Court, Awka, has dismissed the suit by the Incorporated Trustees of African Initiative Against Abuse of Public Trust seeking to stop the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), its governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami and their agents from taking any step to enforce the implementation of the policy on the redesign of the Naira notes and non-physical exchange of the old Naira notes with the new notes without a clear policy on how to accommodate the over 50 million Nigerians without bank accounts.
According to The Guardian, the plaintiff had on November 30, 2022, on behalf of over 50 million Nigerians in different rural areas without bank accounts, dragged the defendants to the court in a suit marked FHC/AWK/CS/195/22.
The court had directed the plaintiff to put the defendants on notice and adjourned the hearing of the motion on notice to January 19, 2023.
While the plaintiff had N. D. Agu, as its counsel, an Aba, Abia State-based lawyer, Chief Musa M. Tolani, led the team of lawyers for the 1st and 2nd defendants. At the resumed hearing of the suit on January 19, 2023, counsel for the plaintiff orally applied to discontinue the suit and withdraw the same based on undisclosed instructions from his clients. But the 1st and 2nd defendants’ lead counsel did not oppose the discontinuation of the suit and withdrawal of same.
He, however, vehemently argued and applied for N50 million as a punitive cost to be awarded against the plaintiff, hence, the 1st and 2nd defendants had filed copious processes in response to the plaintiff’s originating summons.
According to the ruling of the court contained in the Certified True Copy of the enrolled order dated January 31, 2023, obtained by The Guardian, trial judge, A. Nganjiwa, after considering the circumstances of the case and arguments of the counsels to the parties, ordered that the suit be struck out.
Recall on Thursday, February 9, 2023 some Governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) including Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano, Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo, Nasir El-Rufai; Kaduna, Yahaya Bello; Kogi and Zamfara State Governor, filled a suit before the Supreme Court in Abuja against the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stop the implementation of the directive on limitation of daily cash withdrawals by Nigerians from banks.
According to the joint suit, it is an infraction on the legal rights of citizens.
In the suit filed by Ondo State Government, the policy initiated by the CBN is restricting it from having access to funds for execution of developmental projects, small credit facilities to petty traders (who have no account in banks) and highly detrimental to daily commercial activities in the state.
To this, the Supreme Court ruled by restraining the CBN and the FG from going ahead with the deadline for February 10, 2023.
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