THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes will remain in circulation and be used as legal tender after December 31, 2024, amid a call by the House of Representatives for the apex bank to commence a gradual withdrawal of the notes.

In a statement on Thursday, October 24, signed by its acting director of corporate communications, Sidi Ali Hakama, CBN said its attention has been drawn to claims making the rounds that the notes would cease to be legal tender by year-end.

It described the claim as false and calculated to disrupt the country’s payment system without recourse to the Lower Chamber’s withdrawal call.

“The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria has been drawn to discussions at different fora suggesting that the old series of the N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes shall cease to be legal tender on December 31, 2024. We wish to state categorically that such claims are false and calculated to disrupt the country’s payment system.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the order of the Supreme Court of Nigeria on Wednesday, November 29, 2023, granting the prayer of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to extend the use of old Naira banknotes ad infinitum, subsists,” CBN said.

Maintaining its stands, the apex bank directed all its branches to continue to issue and accept all denominations of the banknotes, old and re-designed notes from deposit money banks (DMBs).

“We, therefore, advise members of the public to disregard suggestions that the said series of banknotes will cease to be legal tender on December 31, 2024.

“We urge Nigerians to continue to accept all Naira banknotes (old or redesigned) for their day-to-day transactions and handle them with the utmost care to safeguard and protect their lifecycle,” CBN added.

Meanwhile, the Lower Chamber, earlier on Thursday, called on the CBN to begin the gradual withdrawal of the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes.

It urged the apex bank to ensure the availability of the new denominations of the notes for Nigerians’ use.

According to reports in the media, the Green Chamber called on CBN to instruct the DMBs to conduct transactions with customers using the new naira notes, initiating the process of phasing out the old currency.

Its resolution came after it adopted a motion of urgent national importance, sponsored by the representative of Ogbaru Federal Constituency in Anambra State, Victor Ogene, during Thursday’s plenary session.

“Going by the Supreme Court’s subsequent ruling and order, the N200, N500, and N1,000 notes shall cease to be legal tender, medium of exchange for goods and services in Nigeria, and shall also cease to be in circulation as from January 1, 2025,” Ogene was quoted to have raised in his motion.

He feared that with barely two months to December, CBN had not shown sign of its readiness to sensitise Nigerians, asserting that the citizens could wake up into a frustrating situation as witnessed in February 2023.

Following the motion, the Representatives resolved to urge CBN to issue more new N200, N500 and N1,000 notes and begin the gradual withdrawal of the old notes from circulation before the deadline of December 31, 2024.

The members resolved to call on the CBN to order commercial banks to forthwith stop cash payments to customers with old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes and engage in gradual mopping up of the old notes.

The Green Chamber also resolved to urge the CBN to kick-start awareness programmes for Nigerians to be aware and prepare for the deadline of December 31, 2024.

While the lawmakers’ and CBN’s stands appear contradictory, The ICIR reported in November 2023 that the Supreme Court ruled that old and new naira notes would co-exist as legal tender until further notice.

In October 2022, CBN, under the leadership of its former governor Godwin Emefiele, announced the redesigning of the N200, N500 and N1000 notes.

Part of the aim was to control the currency in circulation, which Emefiele said was about N2.7 trillion out of N3.3 trillion of the currency in circulation outside the commercial banks’ vaults.

The new notes came into circulation in December 2022, with the initial plans to phase out the old notes by January 31, 2023.

However, the implementation of the policy frustrated Nigerians and slowed down business operations at the time, as accessing the new notes posed challenging and were scarcely available, leading to a cash crunch situation that lasted for months before the apex court subsisting suspension deadline.