New Naira Notes: CBN Allays Rural Residents’ Anxieties
By Kasim Isa Muhammad
21 January, 2023
The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, calmed rural dwellers’ concerns on Friday in Abuja about using the new naira notes before they lose their legal currency status on January 31.
It announced that, in order to increase collection of the redesigned naira notes, it would start a currency swap scheme on Monday in rural and underserved areas of the nation.
The launch, it continued, was motivated by the desire to increase the options for rural and underserved areas to exchange their naira notes.
The launch would take place in collaboration with super agents and Deposit Money Banks, or DMBs.
“It enables citizens in rural areas or those with limited access to formal financial services to exchange old naira notes for the redesigned ones.
“The old N1,000, N500 and N200 notes can be exchanged for the redesigned notes or existing lower denominations of N100, N50 and N20 which remain legal tender.
“The super agents can exchange a maximum of N10,000 per person, while amounts above M10,000 shall be treated as cash-in deposit into wallets or bank accounts in line with the cashless policy.
“Bank Verification Number, National Identification Number or Voter’s Card details of the customer should be captured as much as possible,’’ the bank stated.
It further stated that DMBs were required to verify that only Automated Teller Machines were used for the issue of the new notes.
Additionally, it was claimed that the task was to make sure that the new currency notes were distributed in a fair, open, and uniform manner throughout the nation.
Haruna Mustapha, director of the CBN’s Banking Supervision Department, and Musa Jimoh, head of the CBN’s Payment System Management Department, both signed the statement.
