As scheduled, the new naira notes have gone into circulation today as commercial banks in major cities in Nigeria, particularly Lagos and Abuja have started dispensing newly redesigned naira notes to over-the-counter customers as well as through Automated Teller Machine, Investors King learnt. 

One of the top officials of a commercial bank who spoke to the press on Wednesday said, “We got the funds (new notes) about two days ago. Our head office has dispatched the funds to various area offices across the country. My branch will pick up our allocation at a nearby area office. We will start releasing the new notes to our customers by Thursday (Today)”. 

It could be recalled that Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele had on October 26, 2022, said the apex bank will issue redesigned N200, N500, and N1,000 notes, effective December 15, 2022, while the new and existing currencies will remain legal tender and circulate together until January 31, 2023.

Subsequently, the new naira notes were unveiled by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Federal Executive Council meeting in Aso Rock Villa.

During a press conference, Emefiele had said the redesigned notes are aimed to address prevailing issues such as counterfeiting, excessive circulation of naira and terrorism. 

Emefiele noted that about N2.75 trillion out of N3.3 trillion in circulation were outside the vaults of commercial banks. 

Similarly, the CBN also fixed daily maximum withdrawals via point of sale (PoS) and Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) terminal at N20,000 and said only denominations of N200 and below shall be loaded into the ATMs.

The withdrawal limit has however generated huge controversy with the House of Representatives calling for the suspension of the policy. 

In addition, the Association of Mobile Money Operators of Nigeria also lamented that the policy is capable to get members out of business while human right lawyer, Femi Falana SAN threatens to sue the Central Bank if the policy is not withdrawn.