The Central Bank of Nigeria has posted a countdown clock on its website for the January 31, 2023 deadline for the current N200, N500, and N1,000 notes.
The apex bank had announced a Naira redesign policy that would result in the production of new notes for three of the naira denominations currently in circulation: N200, N500, and N1,000 notes.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had set December 15, 2022, as the official start date for the circulation of the new naira notes.
It stated that the current notes would be legal tender alongside the new notes from December 15, 2022 to January 31, 2023.
The highest bank stated that the old notes would no longer be legal tender as of January 31, 2023.
The Central Bank had advised Nigerians to deposit the redesigned denominations at their various banks, stating that banks would be open for business Monday through Saturday. It also stated that bank charges on deposits had been suspended for the time being, and that there was no limit to the amount that could be deposited at one time.
The CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, stated that members of the public were hoarding naira notes, adding that statistics showed that more than 80% of the currency in circulation was outside the vaults of commercial banks.
He described the current situation - as of September 2022 - as unacceptable, with a total of N3.2 trillion in circulation, N2.73 trillion of which was outside the vaults of the banks.
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