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BREAKING: Old N200, N500, N1,000 Notes Remain Legal Tender Till Dec 31 – CBN

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In compliance with a ruling of the Supreme Court, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has declared that old N200, N500, N1,000 banknotes remain legal tender till December 31, 2023.

The apex bank’s Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Isa AbdulMumin spoke in a statement on Monday. This is coming 10 days after the Supreme Court ruled that old naira notes should co-exist with new ones till the end of the year.

“In compliance with the established tradition of obedience to court orders and sustenance of the Rule of Law Principle that characterized the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, and by extension, the operations of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as a regulator, Deposit Money Banks operating in Nigeria have been directed to comply with the Supreme Court ruling of March 3, 2023.

“Accordingly, the CBN met with the Bankers’ Committee and has directed that the old N200, N500 and N1000 banknotes remain legal tender alongside the redesigned banknotes till December 31, 2023.

“Consequently, all concerned are directed to conform accordingly,” the statement read.

The highest court of the land had on March 3 ordered that old N200, N500 and N1000 notes remain valid till December 31, 2023.

This was after 16 states of the federation instituted a suit to challenge the legality or otherwise of the introduction of the policy.

The 16 states led by Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara had prayed the apex court to void and set aside the policy on the ground that it is inflicting hardships on innocent Nigerians.

The Supreme Court subsequently ruled that President Muhammadu Buhari’s disobedience of its February 8 order is a sign of dictatorship, adding that the President breached the Constitution of the Federation in the way he issued directives for the re-designing of the Naira by the CBN.

After the March 3 judgement by the Supreme Court, the Presidency, CBN and the AGF kept mum, throwing many bank customers and Nigerians into confusion as the ruling of the apex court contradicted the directive of the President on February 16 that old N500 and N1000 notes are banned and old N200 notes remain valid till April 10.

However, the Presidency broke its silence on Monday, saying the President never told the CBN and the AGF not to obey the order of the apex court.

“The CBN has no reason not to comply with court orders on the excuse of waiting for directives from the President,” the Presidency noted.

According to the Presidency, the President is an absolute respecter of the rule of law and that the “negative campaign and personalised attacks against the President by the opposition and all manner of commentators is unfair and unjust.”

The CBN had extended the deadline for the swap of old N200, N500, and N1,000 from January 31 to February 10 following complaints by many Nigerians but the Supreme Court, after a suit filed by the states, held that the Federal Government, the CBN, commercial banks must not continue with the February 10 deadline pending the determination of a notice in respect of the issue.

However, the President, in a national broadcast on February 16, directed the apex bank to release old N200 notes into circulation to co-exist with new N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes for 60 days — by April 10, 2023. He also said old N500 and N1,000 banknotes cease to be legal tender in Nigeria.

There has been a flurry of reactions and stark criticisms against the President’s directive including from governors of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Governors Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa), Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), Umar Ganduje (Kano); Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo; and many stalwarts of the ruling APC have openly censured and faulted the President’s directive, arguing that it has no grounds because the case is before the apex court.

Leading Senior Advocates of Nigeria like Femi Falana and Mike Ozekhome have equally faulted the President’s move, saying he cannot overrule the apex court of the land.

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BREAKING: FCMB Founder Olasubomi Balogun Dies

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Olasubomi Balogun

Theo Founderf First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Otunba Michael Olasubomi Balogun, is dead.

According to reports, family sources revealed that Balogun died in London Friday morning at the age of 89.

He was Otunba Tunwase of Ijebuland before his death.

As a ranking Ijebu Chief, his death will, however, only be officially announced in line with tradition.

 

 

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BVN Valid For Life, Has No Expiry Date- CBN

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CBN Appoints Officials, Confirms Nwanisobi As Communications Director
CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that the Bank Verification Number (BVN) has no expiry date.

According to the CBN, once a customer’s biometrics have been captured and enrolled in the database of NIBSS, the BVN remains for life.

The regulatory Framework for BVN issued by the CBN in 2021 stipulates that customers can only change their records due to certain conditions.

The CBN therefore urged Nigerians to disregard news on the expiration date for the BVN.

The bank stated that the BVN remains for life, as it has no expiry date.

This was disclosed in a statement by the Acting-Director, Corporate Communications, Alhaji Isa Abdulmumin, reacting to claims of expiration by a national newspaper.

Alhaji Isa Abdulmumin said the Bank Verification Number (BVN) issued in Nigeria remains for life and has no expiry date, citing that the claim was completely false, and urged advised bank customers to ignore it, he added:

“The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria has been drawn to reports suggesting that the Bank Verification Number issued by the Bank in collaboration with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) expires after a ten-year period.

“Contrary to these claims, we wish to clarify that the BVN issued in Nigeria has no expiry date.

“Once a customer’s biometrics have been captured and enrolled in the database of NIBSS, the BVN remains for life”.

He added that the Regulatory Framework for BVN issued by the CBN in 2021 stipulates that customers can only change their records due to certain conditions spelt out in the document and after being cleared by relevant authorities.

“Therefore, we urge bank customers in the country, especially those whose biometrics have been captured by the system, to continue using their unique identifiers as they last their entire lifetime.”

The number of bank account owners in Nigeria with Bank Verification Number (BVN) increased to 57 million as of April 9, 2023.

This was revealed in the latest BVN registration data released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS).

However, the data showed that registration for the BVN has slowed since the beginning of this year despite the recent moves by the Central Bank of Nigeria to close all bank accounts not linked.

At the end of 2022, the BVN database stood at 56.5 million. This shows that banks had recorded only about 500,000 new BVN registrations in the first three months of this year plus nine days in April. This is far lower than the average of 400,000 registrations per month recorded last year.

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NLC Directs Officials To Monitor Banks Over Cash Scarcity

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BREAKING: Old Naira Notes Deadline Stays - Emefiele
CBN Governor Emefiele

 

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has directed its officials across the country to go round and monitor cash dispensing situations at the commercial banks.

This is coming ahead of today’s National Executive Council, NEC meeting, leaders of orfficials of state councils of NLC and industrial union affiliates are to take pictorial evidence of the actual situations at the banks, “whether the banks are dispensing cash or not, and report same to the NLC headquarters.”

The monitoring which ends by 12.30 pm will enable the NEC meeting that will commence by 1:00 p.m.at the Labour House, Abuja, takes a final decision on tomorrow’s planned nationwide strike over the cash crunch in the country.

The National leadership of NLC gave the directive yesterday (Monday, March 27).

An official of NLC who spokelsaid, “Yes, the directive was given yesterday. Union leaders are to go around their areas to monitor commercial banks this Morning before 12.30pm and show pictorial evidence of the situation at the banks.

“Whether they are dispensing cash or not. The pictorial evidencesl are to be forwarded to Congress headquarters to be us assess the activities of Commercial banks before the NEC meeting by 1pm to enable us take a final decision on tomorrow’s planned industrial action.”

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