CBN Governor Charges Banks to Accept Old Naira Note after 10 February deadline

CBN Governor Charges Banks to Accept Old Naira Note after 10 February deadline

Zainab Tanimu

Kaduna, Northwest Nigeria

The Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele has charged commercial banks to accept old naira notes

He said all commercial banks must accept the old naira notes even after the expiration of the 10 February deadline

Mr Emefiele made this charge on Tuesday when he appeared before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee looking into the implementation of the policy.

The CBN governor said he agrees with section 20(3) of the CBN Act, which provides that commercial banks must accept old notes after a deadline.

Section 20 (3) of the Act says: “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.”

He has agreed with the law which states,  “even after the old currency has lost its legal tender status that we are mandated to collect these money.

He said, And I stand with the House of Reps on this. What does that mean? It could have lost its legal tender status which means we have moved on.

For those who have their money that have not been able to send to the bank, he assured that they will not loose any.

“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,” he said.

the lawmakers have kicked against the CBN Governor’s earlier deadline of 17th February given to Nigerians to deposit their money saying, it must be grace of months and not days given to the people.