Return Old Naira Notes Before January 31, CBN Urges Akwa Ibom Citizens
The inhabitants of Akwa Ibom state have once again been urged by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to return their old N1000, N500, and N200 notes to the banks by January 31, 2023, when they would be totally phased out of circulation.
Mr. Dominic Ekanemesang, the CBN’s deputy director, made the call on Sunday while escorting other Apex bank representatives to different churches in the city to educate people on the recently revised Naira notes and its cashless policy.
Ekanemesang encouraged the congregation at Sacred Heart Catholic Parish, Aka Offot, Uyo to accept its cashless policy since it is here to stay.
He stressed that the CBN is committed to and determined to implement a cashless economy and that its cashless strategy seeks to reduce the amount of money in the country’s circulation.
His words: “We are here to carry out sensitisation on the new currency redesign. I’m sure all of us here are aware that we have new notes of N1000, N500 and N200 and that after January 31, 2023 the old notes will cease to be legal tender.
” You are also aware that the three higher denominations are mostly used for illicit transactions such as, kidnapping, terrorism financing and money laundering. So we are not going to have the newly redesigned notes much in circulation because we are moving to a cashless economy.
“We want to ensure that we don’t have too much money in circulation. Please pass this message to your relatives, parents, sisters and brothers that the cashless policy has come to stay; we want to safeguard our financial system.
“Also we want to bring the citizens into the financial system, so if you don’t have a Bank account this is an opportunity for you to go and open a bank account and deposit the old notes into your account.
“Please this is an appeal. Central Bank of Nigeria will not want any bank customer to lose his or her money. So please return all the three higher denomination of the old Naira notes to the bank on or before January 31”
