Naira Swap Deadline: Fuel stations, retail outlets reject old notes as CBN keeps Nigerians in suspense

Solomon Ekanem 16:28 - 14 February 2023

The CBN has extended the validity of the old ₦200, ₦500, and ₦1,000 notes indefinitely. [Guardian]

Recent checks have revealed that despite the Supreme Court’s ruling restraining the Federal Government from enforcing the February 10 deadline earlier communicated by the Central Bank of Nigeria, some banks, outlets, and fuel stations have stopped collecting the old naira notes from Nigerians.

According to an investigative report by The Punch, some Nigerian commercial banks had started to reject the old N1,000, N500, and N200 notes from some depositors and point-of-service agents who flooded the bank to lodge their cash.

This caused a ripple action as some retail outlets and traders also, stopped collecting the old cash as legal tender for goods and services sold along the streets citing instructions from bank officials who claimed they were working on the orders of the CBN.

Further checks at the high court in Lagos state also revealed even lawyers and litigants found it difficult to use the older notes to pay for filing of their court processes.

On the popular Allen avenue in Lagos, some petty traders, and supermarkets had also left instructions with their sales team not to receive the old notes from customers while some tricycle operators were surprisingly, still collecting the old notes.

Despite all this confusion and development from the streets, the CBN has remained mum as it insisted on the deadline date it earlier announced.

Recall the apex bank had received throngs of advice from concerned Nigerians, including the International Monetary Fund, IMF, and even the Council of State to shelf the earlier announced deadline date which would make the old naira notes seize to be legal tender in Nigeria.

In a recent statement, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has, however, argued against shifting the February 10, 2023 deadline.

According to a Punch report, the CBN governor made this clear during a visit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he discussed the monetary and currency redesign policy of the bank.

He said, “The situation is substantially calming down since the commencement of over-the-counter payments to complement ATM disbursements and the use of super-agents.

“There is, therefore, no need to consider any shift from the deadline,” Emefiele added.

Nigerian citizens anxiously await CBN's next directive on the currency.