The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says the January 31 deadline for the validity of the old naira notes remained unchanged.

The CBN made this known via a tweet on its verified Twitter account on Saturday.

The post was shared with a video of the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, from Tuesday’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja.

“Deadline for the return of old series of 200, 500, and 1000 naira notes remains January 31, 2023,” the apex bank captioned the video.

It would be recalled that Emefiele, while speaking after the MPC meeting, said the January 31 deadline to stop the circulation of old naira notes will not be extended.

The CBN Governor stated that the 90-day ultimatum given to Nigerians to deposit their old currencies was enough.

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“We called on the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to extend their working hours, and to work on weekends.

“There is no reason to talk about a shift. The new currencies are available,” he said.

Emefiele said the apex bank had mandated the DMBs to feed the new notes into their Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) for Nigerians to have equal access.

“We have increased disbursement of the new notes to them. There is adequate quantity of new notes available.

“Our mint is producing and we are supplying the banks. We have super agents in underserved areas like riverine communities, and CBN staff members have been out on mobilisation.

“We believe that by January 31, the new naira notes would have permeated the nooks and crannies of the country,” the CBN boss added.

The Star recalls that the apex bank announced plans to redesign N200, N500, and N1,000 notes during its MPC meeting on October 26, 2022.

It later set December 15 as the official start date for the circulation of the new naira notes, which President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled on November 23, 2022.

The CBN recently issued a revised cash withdrawal policy, stating that cash withdrawals above N100,000 and N500,000 for individuals and corporate organisations will attract processing fees of five per cent and 10 per cent, respectively.

The Star