The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has instructed all of its branches to keep printing sufficient amounts of the old and redesigned banknotes in various denominations for deposit money banks.
The apex bank has insisted that all of the banknotes it has issued are still valid forms of payment and shouldn’t be refused by anybody.
On Wednesday, November 8, 2023, the CBN released a public statement that includes this admission. The statement is viewable on the CBN’s official X (formerly Twitter) account.
This comes after the CBN first assured everyone that there would be enough cash on hand in every major city in the nation. However, reports have surfaced of cash shortages in some of the nation’s main cities.
According to the CBN statement,
”Our attention has again been drawn to reports of a scarcity of cash across some major cities in the country despite assurances of sufficient cash stocks in all locations across the country. There have also been reports pf anxiety among some members of the public over the legality or otherwise of the old naira notes.
”For avoidance of doubt, while reiterating that there are sufficient banknotes across the country for all normal economic activity, we wish to state unambiguously that every banknote issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) remains legal tender and should not be rejected by anyone as stipulated in Section 20(5) of the CBN Act. 2007.
”Accordingly, branches of the CBN across the country have been directed to continue to issue different denominations of old and redesigned banknotes in adequate quantities to Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) for onward circulation to bank customers.
”We wish to restate that all denominations of banknotes issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) remain legal tender. In line with Section 20(5) of the CBN Act 2007 no one should refuse to accept the Naira as a means of payment.
”Consequently, members of the public are advised to accept all CBN-issued banknotes currently in circulation and guard against panic withdrawals. We reaffirm that there is sufficient stock of currency notes to facilitate normal economic activities.’
”Furthermore, to reduce the pressure on the sue of physical cash, members of the public are again advised to continue to embrace alternative modes of payment.’’
