The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has posted a countdown clock on its website for the expiration of the N200, N500, and N1,000 notes now in use on January 31, 2023.
The Naira redesign policy, which the apex bank had stated, called for the printing of new notes in the N200, N500, and N1,000 denominations for the three circulating Naira notes.
The formal launch date for the circulation of the new naira notes had been established by the CBN for December 15, 2022.
It said that from December 15, 2022, to January 31, 2023, both the old notes and the new notes would be accepted as legal money.
The highest bank said the old notes would cease to be legal tender from the January 31, 2023 deadline.
The Central Bank of Nigeria asked Nigerians to deposit the denominations that would be redesigned at their respective banks, noting that the banks would be open for business every week from Monday through Saturday. Additionally, it stated that bank charges on deposits had been stopped for the time frame and that there was no cap on the amount that may be deposited at one time.
Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, had claimed that people were hoarding naira notes, and statistics showed that more than 80% of the cash in circulation was not kept in commercial banks’ vaults.
He described as unacceptable the current situation – of September 2022 – in which a total of N3.2 trillion was in circulation, out of which N2.73 trillion was outside the vaults of the banks.
The naira redesign policy of the CBN got the nod of the Nigerian Senate last week with a resolution to provide legislative support for the policy, while insisting of providing an oversight for the policy.
