“We are begging banks to come and take the redesigned notes” – CBN

The redesigned notes are yet to be in proper circulation weeks after their unveiling.

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has revealed the reason the redesigned notes are still scarce after weeks of their introduction.

Towards the end of last year, the CBN redesigned the 200, 500 and 1000 naira notes to upset the issue of counterfeit notes in the country.

These notes were launched afterwards as the apex bank urged Nigerians to take their existing notes to the bank before they seize to be regarded as legal tender by January 31st, 2023.

Two weeks to the deadline, however, the redesigned notes are still scarce.

As a means to combat the issue, the CBN directed commercial banks to fill their ATMs with the new notes and also banned over-the-counter payments with the new notes.

Despite all these measures, news notes still remain scarce as commercial ATMs still dispense old notes.

While speaking at a sensitization programme in Lagos, the Head of legal department of the Central bank, Kofo Salam-Alada, disclosed that the CBN will go tough on banks whose ATMs are still dispensing old notes.

“I can tell you today that the CBN on a daily basis issues new notes. As we speak, banks are with the CBN taking money,” he started.

“We are actually begging banks to come and take money from the Central Bank. We have these new naira notes in our vaults and we are begging banks to come and take it.

“We found out that a lot of things are happening that we need to checkmate, so we stopped withdrawal of new notes over the counter to ensure that everyone can have access to it and not one chief who is known to the manager, walks in, and carts away all the new notes in a particular branch. That is why we said it should be in the ATMs which cannot distinguish people.

“We also have monitors going around banks now. I have been to some ATMs this morning and I have done the reports. We are not mobilising the masses against the banks because the banks are there to serve you, but be rest assured that they will serve you now that they know that the CBN is on them to serve you with the new naira notes.”