The Central Bank of Nigeria has directed all its branches across the country to maintain a steady supply of both old and redesigned banknotes in different denominations to commercial banks.
This decision was communicated through a statement signed by the Director of Corporate Communications, Isa AbdulMumin, at the central bank, and posted on its official social media account on Wednesday.
This action is a response to recent reports of cash shortages in major urban areas, despite prior assurances from the CBN regarding the adequacy of cash availability nationwide.
Part of the statement read, “For the avoidance of doubt, while reiterating that there are sufficient banknotes across the country for all normal economic activity, we wish to state unambiguously that every banknote issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria remains legal tender and should not be rejected by anyone, as stipulated in Section 20(5) of the CBN Act, 2007.
“Accordingly, branches of the CBN across the country have been directed to continue to issue different denominations of old and redesigned banknotes in adequate quantities to Deposit Money Banks for onward circulation to bank customers.
“We wish to restate that all denominations of banknotes issued by the CBN remain legal tender. In line with Section 20(5) of the CBN Act, 2007.”
It added that “no one should refuse to accept the naira as a means of payment.”
