Amid complaints over difficulties encountered with swapping old naira notes for new designs, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) extended the January 31 deadline till February 10.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Godwin Emefiele, the CBN governor, said aside from the February 10 deadline, an additional seven days has been added as “grace period” for Nigerians to deposit their old notes directly with the CBN.

The CBN has the exclusive power to issue, reissue, print, and exchange currency notes and coins across Nigeria under sections 2b, 17, and 18 of the CBN Act.

While the CBN has the power to stop old notes from being used as legal tender or for transactional purposes, does the apex bank have the legal right to refuse to accept the old note in exchange for the new ones?

Section 20 (3) of the CBN Act states: “Notwithstanding sub-sections (1) and (2) of this section, the Bank shall have power, if directed to do so by the President and after giving reasonable notice in that behalf, to call in any of its notes or coins on payment of the face value thereof and any note or coin with respect to which a notice has been given under this sub-section, shall, on the expiration of the notice, cease to be legal tender, but, subject to section 22 of this Act, shall be redeemed by the Bank upon demand”.

Section 22 of the CBN Act which is the conditional clause and exception for the redemption of old notes states: “A person shall not be entitled to recover from the Bank the value of any lost, stolen, mutilated or imperfect note or coin.”

Speaking on the implication of the above-stated sections, Festus Ogun, a Lagos-based legal practitioner, said the CBN is under compulsion to accept old notes even after the deadline for validity.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria under section 20(3) only has the power to give a specific day within which a new currency will become the official legal tender after giving us reasonable notice,” he said.

“However, the CBN does not have the power to give a deadline on submission or the surrendering of the old currencies and saying this not because it is not desirable that the old notes should be deposited in the bank, but to say that they will no longer accept the old currency after a particular deadline, it is not supported by law.

“Section 20(3) is clear. It says that the CBN has a mandatory duty to redeem the old notes when presented to them or presented to the bank.”

He also said the notice issued by the CBN is not a “reasonable time”, adding that the least period should be a notice of six months.

“Let’s even assume that the notice given was reasonable, the law states that the notice is only in respect of when the new currency would become the official legal tender,” Ogun said.


“It does not necessarily imply that the old currency can no longer be accepted by the bank even after the expiration of the deadline. The banks can accept it and present it to CBN because CBN has a duty to accept it from them.

“A lot of people, especially in the rural areas, do not have access even to banks and do not have access to this new legal tender. So, why should you render useless the money with them because of a particular deadline?

The CBN is under compulsion to accept the old currency from our people."

Source: https://www.thecable.ng/matters-arising-is-it-legal-for-cbn-to-reject-old-naira-notes-after-deadline/amp

The lawlessness of Buhari's government is appalling, can the national assembly curtail Emefiele's reckless actions and scrap this illegal naira swap deadline that has caused untold pain to Nigerians and hurting the economy....

The politicians will not rest untill Old notes are used for the election

SadiqBabaSani:
The politicians will not rest untill Old notes are used for the election

You and your fellow zombidiots should use your sense for once

This is not about politicians or election, ...it's about the politicization of CBN.... The way the CBN governor went about naira redesign and deadline is a clear violation of section 20 sub 3,4 and 5 of CBN act.

SadiqBabaSani:
The politicians will not rest untill Old notes are used for the election

The lawyer is daft

Rubbish.
Why do you want to keep carrying old notes after the deadline

CBN is a regulator and do not collect cash from the public. They have power to to tell commercial banks what notes to collect or not

It's illegal, and buhari is using is last Veto power. Set of thieves.

Go to court if you are pained. No going back on February 10th deadline

Urchins are illiterates

Why una no dey use the old N10, N20 and N50 notes since CBN doesn't have the right to reject old notes.

February 10th remains sacrosanct.

😂😂😂

Do this present Nigeria and everything resident in it present themselves to you as a unit that would function and adhere to a normal way of doing things?

To fix and correct so many ills of this jungle, you'd need to act like an animal to be able to confront the many animals running amok and wrecking the country.

Do the looters and embezzlers respect the constitution in the course of their madness?

Abeg, make una shift jare...

Make Emiefiele Sha do make he comot from CBN.

His people send Adeosun away and the Economy started on a downturn.

Posterity will help us define and evaluate his time as CBN Gov.

I see no reason why Emefiele should not be detained by DSS over the fact that he was fingered as a terror financier

theophorus:
Make Emiefiele Sha do make he comot from CBN.

His people send Adeosun away and the Economy started on a downturn.

Posterity will help us define and evaluate his time as CBN Gov.

kingsways:
Rubbish.
Why do you want to keep carrying old notes after the deadline

CBN is a regulator and do not collect cash from the public. They have power to to tell commercial banks what notes to collect or not

Some Nigerians live outside Nigeria.Just like there are dollars outside the US so with naira
For practical reasons not everyone can come in before the deadline

If we are talking 100k,200IK and not 1 billion
The bank should redeem it
The CBN is a bank
The Naira is a debt/liability of the CBN like an IOU
By law,the CBN can collect notes. It doesn't usually do so but by law. IT CAN.

The lawyer is stating the law and you say he is daft because of your sentimental attachment to lawlessness and corruption, its a shame....

NothingDoMe:
The lawyer is daft

Your username "OfficialAPCNig" has exposed who you're working for so I won't take you seriously.... Emefiele is a card carry APC member, this illegal deadline is part of your evil party's agenda for the election..... It will fail as Nigerians will reject APC across the board...

OfficialAPCNig:
Urchins are illiterates

Why una no dey use the old N10, N20 and N50 notes since CBN doesn't have the right to reject old notes.

February 10th remains sacrosanct.

😂😂😂

OfficialAPCNig:
Urchins are illiterates

Why una no dey use the old N10, N20 and N50 notes since CBN doesn't have the right to reject old notes.

February 10th remains sacrosanct.

😂😂😂

Everyone can see what I said yesterday.


Urchins and Agbado are a code words for Yorubas not just Tinubu supporters. It has replaced Afonja another code word.

The lawyer being referenced is a Yoruba man but has nothing to do with Tinubu and he has every right to challenge the government based on his understanding of the law.

However, he is being called an Urchin here.

What you do expect he is an APC operative....

Iamgrey5:
Everyone can see what I said yesterday.


Urchins and Agbado are a code words for Yorubas not just Tinubu supporters. It has replaced Afonja another code word.

The lawyer being referenced is a Yoruba man but has nothing to do with Tinubu and he has every right to challenge the government based on his understanding of the law.

However, he is being called an Urchin here.