CBN clears air on validity of old N500, N1000 notes

The Central Bank of Nigeria has reacted to a statement by Governor Charles Soludo that the Central Bank of Nigeria has directed banks to start dispensing and accepting old N500 and N1000 notes.

According to Soludo, who himself is a former governor of the apex bank, Emefiele told him the directive was issued at a Bankers’ Committee meeting held on Sunday, 12th March 2023.

He therefore told residents in the state to continue to transact their businesses with the old naira notes and to report banks that refuse to accept the notes to authorities.

READ ALSO: Just in: CBN has directed banks to dispense, receive old naira notes—Gov. Soludo

The governor who noted that the March 3 ruling by the Supreme Court which nullified February 10 deadline by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the old notes to cease being legal tender, said the governor of the apex bank, Godwin Emefiele, personally confirmed to him that commercial banks could dispense and accept old notes from customers.

However, in a statement on Monday, Dr. Isa Abdulmumin, Acting Director of Corporate Communication CBN, clarified that there is no statement from the apex bank telling commercial banks to dispense and accept the old N500 and N1000 notes from Nigerians.

READ ALSO: CBN launches regulatory framework for open banking

Abdulmumin was reacting to a statement by the Governor of Anambra State, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, claiming the apex bank had directed commercial banks to dispense and accept the old notes.

He said, “Governor Charles Soludo’s statement emanates from him, not the Central Bank of Nigeria. The Central Bank has not issued any statement directing banks on a collection of old naira notes. I am sure sometime in the future; the bank will issue a statement”.

CBN’s silence 10 days after the Supreme Court ruling validating the old naira notes has continued to unsettle economic stakeholders amid Nigerians’ hardship over the naira crisis.