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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has extended its deadline to cease the usage of its old currency notes.
Last year, the Central Bank of Nigeria, with the support of the federal government decided to phase out the appearance of some of its currency notes and replace it with newly designed notes, in an attempt to fix some of the monetary complications the country is faced with.
The denominations intended for the redesign were the N100, N200, N500, and N1000 notes. By December the bank had redesigned the notes and as a result initiated a number of new directives and policies.
One of the CBN’s directives, instructed that Nigerians should replace all the old notes in their possessions, with new ones on or before January 31st 2023.
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However, with just a few days to go, and poor circulation of the new redesigned notes, the Central Bank has decided to extend this deadline.
The new deadline is now set at 10th of February, giving Nigerians a week extra to replace usage of the old Naira notes with the new ones.
The CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, in a statement, noted that the new deadline would allow those in rural communities more leeway to replace the old notes.
“Based on the foregoing, we have sought and obtained Mr President’s approval for the following: A 10-day extension of the deadline from January 31 to February 10 to allow for the collection of more old notes legitimately held by Nigerians,” the statement reads in part.
After the February 10 deadline, the statement said, Nigerians would have a further seven days to deposit old notes directly with the CBN.
“A 7-day grace period, beginning from February 10 to February 17, in compliance with Sections 20(3) and 22 of the CBN Act allowing Nigerians to deposit their old notes at the CBN after the February deadline when the old currency would have lost its Legal Tender Status,” according to the statement.
Since the redesign of the denominations, citizens across the country have complained about the availability of the new legal tender, and even this close to the deadline, some ATMs are still dispensing old notes.