The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced that the old N200, N500, and N1000 have ceased being legal tender since February 10, 2023.

   CBN had originally fixed January 31 as the deadline for old notes to be in circulation but extended it in response to pressure from Nigerians. However, before the February 10 deadline, Kogi, Kaduna, and Zamfara States approached the Supreme Court, seeking that the CBN from be restrained going ahead with the deadline. The Court answered their prayer and adjourned the case till February 15. However, there has been silence on the part of the apex bank since the court gave its ruling.

The silence threw Nigerians into confusion about the state of the old notes, which were widely rejected but accepted in some places.

Commenting on the development in a chat with journalists, CBN Branch Controller in Bauchi, Haladu Idris Andaza, said the old notes were no longer legal tender. “In the last 24 hours, we have been inundated by 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 that people have been asking about.” “So for the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state categorically that CBN is ready and is open to receiving 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 been seized to be 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. After filling out the form, you generate a code, you either print it or come with it on your mobile phone, and 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.”