The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Wednesday directed all its branches to continue to issue and accept all denominations of Nigerian banknotes, old and
re-designed, to and from deposit money banks (DMBs).
The apex disclosed this in a statement made available to BusinessTodayNG that “For the avoidance of doubt, the Supreme Court ordered that the old versions of N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes shall continue to be legal tender, alongside the re-designed versions.
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The statement further reads: “Accordingly, in line with Section 20(5) of the CBN Act 2007, all banknotes issued by the CBN, will continue to remain legal tender, indefinitely.
The CBN enjoined the public to continue to accept all Naira banknotes (old or re-designed) for their day-to-day transactions and handle these banknotes with the utmost care, to safeguard and protect the lifecycle of the banknotes.
It further urged them to embrace alternative modes of payment, e-channels, in order to reduce pressure on the use of physical cash.
The directive followed the order of the Supreme Court of Nigeria today granting the prayer of the minister of justice and attorney-general of the federation to extend the use of old Naira banknotes indefinitely.