The Central Bank of Nigeria has insisted that the old and new notes of the N200, N500, and N1,000 denominations will continue to coexist and remain legal tender until the expiration of the judgement of the Supreme Court, which is December 31, 2023.
Ahmed Bello Umar, director, currency operations department, CBN, speaking on the recent circular of the apex bank on Monday at Arise Television, added further clarification on the position of the bank as regards the matter.
Umar insisted that the news about the cessation of the new notes was false, dispelling the publication made by an online media platform.
He said that as a law-abiding institution, the CBN has complied with the judgement of the Supreme Court and insists that both notes will remain legal tender until December 31.
“We have seen some publications on some online media claiming that we are going to change our mind and continue with the old notes and withdraw the new notes that were introduced in October,” Umar said.
“The truth is that CBN has already issued a press release yesterday reiterating that there has been no decision taken to withdraw the new notes. The new notes and the old continue to circulate in the system up to when the old notes will be withdrawn on December 31, 2023, in compliance with the judgement of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.”
He added that since the reintroduction of the old notes back into the economy, the quantity of new and old notes in circulation has increased to 2.34 trillion.
“So there is no truth in the news making the rounds that CBN is going to stop issuing new notes and go back to the old notes. The new and old notes are circulating side by side, and as of the 18th of April, we had over 2.34 trillion in circulation.
“If you recall, in October 2022, the currency in circulation was over 2.33 trillion, but what we have currently—the old and the new—is about 2.34 trillion as of April 18, 2023. So the two notes will continue to circulate alongside until the period when the Supreme Court has given the order that the old notes will seize to be legal tender as of December 31, 2023,” he explained.
