Commercial banks have, reportedly, been directed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to dispense old currency notes and to also receive same as deposits from customers.
The Supreme Court of Nigeria on March 3, 2023 delivered a judgment on the suit by three States (Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara) against the Federal Government of Nigeria, over the cashless policy implementation strategies.
The court ruled that old N1000, N500, N200 remain legal tenders till December 31, 2023.
Some days after the judgment, many businesses are still confused whether to accept the old naira notes or not as the CBN kept mute on the Supreme Court’s judgment.
Now, Professor Charles Soludo, former Governor of the Central Bank and the incumbent Governor of Anambra State, is reporting on his verified Facebook page that the “Commercial banks have been directed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to dispense old currency notes and to also receive same as deposits from customers”.
“Tellers at the commercial banks are to generate the codes for deposits and there is no limit to the number of times an individual or company can make deposits.
“The Governor of the CBN gave the directive at a Bankers’ Committee meeting held on Sunday, 12th March, 2023.
“The Governor, Dr Godwin Emefiele, personally confirmed the above to me during a phone conversation on Sunday night. Residents of Anambra are therefore advised to freely accept and transact their businesses with the old currency notes (N200; N500; and N1,000) as well as the new notes.
“Residents should report any bank that refuses to accept deposits of the old notes. Anambra State Government will not only report such a bank to the CBN, but will also immediately shut down the defaulting branch”.
