The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has introduced newly designed notes.
Governor of the Apex bank, Godwin Emefiele made the announcement on Wednesday at a news briefing at the CBN headquarters in Abuja.
Mr. Emefiele said affected notes are ₦200, ₦500 and ₦1,000.
He explained that the decision to introduce redesigned Naira notes was to enable it take control of cash in circulation.
Mr. Emefiele said the volume of cash outside the control of the banking system had become unacceptable, with over 85% of all cash outside the vaults of commercial banks.
The CBN Governor said Nigeria had not redesigned its currencies in the last twenty years, although the best practice was to do so every eight years.
Mr.Emefiele also highlighted security concerns and counterfeiting of the notes as other reasons for the redesign.
Mr. Emefiele said the introduction of new currency notes will enhance the apex bank’s cashless policy.
Commercial Banks are to begin the return of the old notes to the CBN for the new ones starting today.
The circulation of the new notes will begin on the 15th of December this year and will be used alongside the old ones until the 31st of January 2023 when they will cease to be legal tender.
The CBN has also directed all banks to open from Monday to Saturdays to receive the old notes from depositors while it suspended all bank charges on cash deposits irrespective of the amount.
Reporting by Biodun Dare; Editing by Muzha Kucha and Annabel Nwachukwu