The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has ordered banks to issue and accept both the old and newly redesigned Naira notes.
According to a statement released by the Acting Director of Corporate Communications, this directive comes after the Supreme Court’s decision on Wednesday, November 29, to grant the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation’s request to indefinitely extend the use of old Naira banknotes.
Consequently, the CBN mandated all its branches to persist in distributing and receiving all denominations of Nigerian banknotes, whether old or redesigned, from and to deposit money banks (DMBs).
The Apex bank said, “For the avoidance of doubt, the Supreme Court ordered that the old versions of the N200, N500, and 631,000 banknotes shall continue to be legal tender, alongside the re-designed versions.
“Accordingly, in line with Section 20(5) of the CBN Act 2007, all banknotes issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will continue to remain legal tender indefinitely.
It also urged members of the public to continue to accept all Naira banknotes (old or redesigned) for their day-to-day transactions and handle these banknotes with the utmost care to safeguard and protect the lifecycle of the banknotes.
“Furthermore, the general public is encouraged to embrace alternative modes of payment, such as e-channels, in order to reduce pressure on the use of physical cash,” it added.