The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Thursday threatened to sanction commercial banks in Ogun State dispensing the old naira notes.
The apex bank introduced new naira notes – N200, N500, and N1,000 – and gave a January 31st deadline for the phasing out of the old notes.
With less than two weeks to the deadline and with several Nigerians complaining about the unavailability of the new notes, the Abeokuta branch controller of the apex bank Lanre Wahab said the CBN won’t hesitate to sanction banks still dispensing the old notes to customers.
“They are going to be penalised wherever we still find old notes that have been redesigned – N200, N500, and N1,000. Any bank that is found still issuing/dispensing them will get sanctioned by the Central Bank of Nigeria,” he said after an engagement – about the redesigned notes – with market men and women and members of the informal sector at the Lafenwa Market.
At the event in the Ogun State capital, he said it will soon commence spot checks on Automate Teller Machines (ATMs) to ensure compliance by banks.
According to him, the CBN has since January 13th directed commercial and deposit banks to stop issuing the old notes to customers.
“So, any bank that is sanctioned merits such because they have been warned since 13th to stop doing that,” he maintained.
While assuring that the redesigned notes remain legal tender, he appealed to residents to seize the window of opportunity provided by the CBN to exchange the old notes for new ones before the expiration of the deadline.