February 16, (THEWILL) – The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has created a portal for bank customers to deposit their old naira notes amid scarcity of new naira notes.
In a notice posted on its website titled ‘Redemption of Currency’, the apex bank provided a link to the portal to enable Nigerians to redeem (deposit) their old notes.
The platform bears the title: ‘CBN Currency Redesign – Cash Return Portal.’
President Muhammadu Buhari in a broadcast Thursday, February 16, 2023, approved the continued use of N200 notes as legal tender across Nigeria.
The president, however, added that the CBN’s directive on the phasing out of the old N500 and N1000 notes remains.
“Please click here to create your profile, generate reference and print out receipt for you to proceed to the nearest CBN Branch to deposit your old N1000, N500 and N200 notes into your bank account,” a notice on the CBN portal reads.
“Please visit this link, https://crs.cbn.gov.ng, ONLY through the CBN website. Go to the CBN branch with the print out.”
To create a profile, a frame is filled where a reference number is generated.
Here, customers are required to provide their bank verification number, email address, phone number, bank account details, depositor information (including house address), and the total amount of the denomination to be redeemed
To complete this process, the CBN said that the ‘condition for redemption of currency’ must be met.
According to the central bank, part of the conditions is that depositors can only access the window once and beneficiary accounts would only receive value after the successful processing of cash deposited and verification of documents submitted
“A depositor shall not be entitled to recover from the bank the value of any mutilated or imperfect notes,” the notice added.
“The circumstances under which such notes may be refunded ex-gratia shall be within the absolute discretion of the bank; Depositors can check the status of transactions on the portal here; Transactions would be concluded within a minimum of three working days. All deposits will be treated in accordance with the relevant laws.”
Upon completion of the form, a reference number is generated to indicate which of the central banks to go deposit the old notes.
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
