Old Naira Notes Redeemable Only At CBN After Deadline, Emefiele Clarifies

Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, has disclosed that though old N200, N500 and N1, 000 notes owner can redeem their currency after the February 10 deadline when they would have lost their transaction values, its redemption can only be at the apex bank.

Emiefele, who also assured that no one will lose any legitimately earned money due to the naira redesign, made the disclosure in Abuja on Tuesday in a meeting with the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on the Review of the CBN’s Cashless Policy and Extension of the Timeframe of the Currency Swap programme.

While assuring that the value of the affected old Naira notes will remain the same upon redemption, he told the law makers that the CBN has mopped up about N1.9tn of the old since the commencement of the exercise.

The CBN boss enumerated the steps taken by the central bank to ensure the effective distribution of the new banknotes and assured that the exercise is in the overall interest of Nigerians and the economy.


The currency redesign, according to him, has so far recorded about a 75 per cent success rate as many of those in the rural and underserved locations across the 36 states of the country have had the opportunity to swap their old banknotes for the new ones.

He apologised to the law makers for his inability to appear in previous summons as, according to him, he was on his annual vacation after which he went on a trip to Senegal with President Buhari.