“Banks Will Still Collect Old Notes After Deadline” – Godwin Emefiele

Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has stated that banks will still accept old naira notes even after the deadline of February 10th.

Emefiele gave a speech during his Tuesday appearance before the House of Representatives special committee on the naira swap policy and currency redesign.

He claimed that the CBN would still accept old naira from banks after the February 10 deadline.

Emefiele brought up the CBN act, which requires the apex bank to keep taking old notes even after they have expired.

The CBN governor, however, did not provide a time frame for when banks will stop accepting old notes.

Section 20 (3) of the CBN act states: “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 on 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 went on to discuss the CBN statute in more detail, pointing out that even after the old currency had lost its legal tender status, “We (CBN) are mandated to collect these monies (old notes) and I stand with the House of Representatives on this.”

He said, “What does that mean? It could (old notes) have lost its legal tender status which means we have moved on. But if you have your money that you have not been able to send to the bank, 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 exchange, we will give you. You will not lose your money. This is the assurance I give to Nigerians.”