Group urges CBN to extend deadline for mutilated notes return

Consumer Awareness and Financial Enlightenment Initiative (CAFEi), has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to extend deadline for the exchange of multilated naira notes by another four months.

Otunba ‘Debola Osibogun, CAFEi President, said in Lagos on Sunday that extension of the deadline would give room for more people to key into the intiative.

“It is imperative for the CBN to extend the deadline to give room for more people to key into the opportunity to exchange their mutilated notes, especially during the yuletide period,” Osibogun said.

She explained that it would enable Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to deploy further human resources into the sorting exercise which they claimed was quite labourious.

Osibogun noted that the exchange policy started on a slow note because of the inadequate publicity.

She said that the policy was gradually gaining traction as “we are seeing more and more people going to the banks to exchange their old mutilated notes.”

Osibogun noted that the CBN should give more time for the policy to be impactful.

It was reported that the apex bank on Aug. 31 said that the general public would continue to return mutilated bank notes to their banks after the Sept. 2 deadline.

The Director, CBN Corporate Communications, Mr Isaac Okoroafor disclosed this in a telephone interview with our reporter.

It was reported that this is contrary to the news making the round that mutilated notes collection would stop after the deadline.

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

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

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

“The 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,” Okoroafor said.

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

Okoroafor said that “we opened a window fromy 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″, Group.

Recall that the CBN opened a three-month window from June 3 to Sept. 2 for customers across the country to replace old notes with new ones in all the banks.

The apex bank said this was part of its efforts to improve the overall quality of the naira notes in circulation.