TheCable

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says the general public should continue to return mutilated banknotes to their banks after the earlier announced September 2 deadline.

Isaac Okoroafor, CBN’s director of corporate communications, made this known in a telephone interview with NAN on Saturday.

Okoroafor said that people had been misinterpreting the story to say that the banks would stop the collection of mutilated notes after September 2.

“It is not true, the banks will continue to accept those notes from people,” he said.

“The general public should continue to return mutilated banknotes to their banks after the deadline.

“September 2, 2019, deadline does not apply to bank customers or the general public who will continue to return mutilated notes to the banks.

“It only applies to the banks because free sorting of Naira notes for them will cease at the expiration of that deadline.”

He noted that September 2 was only the deadline after which CBN would begin to charge banks.

Okoroafor said: “we opened a window from June to September so that when they bring the notes without sorting, we can sort it for them free.

“But as from Sept. 2, if they get those notes, they need to sort it before they bring it to us.

“The deposit by customers and acceptance by commercial banks of mutilated notes is a normal and continuous banking practice and as such continues even after Sept. 2.

“Anyone whose qualifying mutilated note is rejected by any bank should report such a bank to CBN by calling 07002255226 between 9am and 4pm daily.”

On banks compliance level to the CBN mutilated notes directive, Okoroafor said: “I wouldn’t know what the compliance level is now until we ask our currency people.

“But all we know is that they are returning the notes, they have been bringing it in and we have been replacing it with new ones.”

The apex bank said it opened a three-month window to replace old notes with new ones to improve the overall quality of the naira notes in circulation.