by Culled From Leadership
Arrangements have been concluded by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to sanction any commercial bank, which still dispenses old Naira notes to its customers in Cross River State beginning from Thursday, January 19, 2023.
CBN Branch Controller in the State, Mrs Glory Iniunam, disclosed this on Thursday in Calabar, while answering questions from journalists shortly after sensitizing Calabar market women on the re-designed new Naira notes.
Mrs Iniunam, who though did not mention the kind of punishment to be meted out to any erring bank, threatened that the apex bank would from Thursday not hesitate to wield its sledge hammer on any bank, which fails to adhere to the directive of dispensing new Naira notes to customers.
She added that the CBN would henceforth not take it lightly with any of the commercial banks that dispenses old Naira notes to its customers via Automated Teller Machine (ATM).
“Visit the nearest bank or any Shared Agent Network Expansion Facilities SANEF agent, to deposit your old N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes.
“We are here to sensitize the people about the redesigned Naira notes and its acceptance. Let them know that as at January 31, 2023, old notes will cease to be legal tender.
“As at February 1, 2023, new notes will come to bed completely. There will be no acceptance of old notes anymore.
“Anybody who carry old notes should carry the old notes to bank.
“From now, banks are not supposed to dispense old notes. We have given them new notes,” she maintained.
The CBN Branch Controller added, “You can still collect the old notes from over the counter and use. But before January 31, take it back to the banks, by then, they must have received enough. We have given them new notes.”
Iniunam further warned that it has become a sanctionable offense for any bank ATM to dispense old Naira notes given the fact that banks have been given enough new Naira notes to dispense to thier customers.
She urged villages, towns and communities without banks to group themselves together and write to the CBN for the apex bank to make PoS machines available to them, so that they can have access to new Naira notes.
