The Central Bank of Nigeria has issued a warning to its regulated firms in Nigeria on their continued rejection of older series and lower-value US dollars.
Lenders who refused the currencies faced threats from the bank.
This was stated in a June 27 circular that was just posted on the apex bank’s website and was signed by Solaja Olayemi, the acting director of the currency operations department.
The public, Deposit Money Banks, and Bureau De Change operators were all warned not to continue rejecting the older series and smaller denomination of the US dollar in the circular.
CBN said the fresh circular followed the outcome of its consumer market intelligence, which revealed the continued rejection of old/lower denominations of dollar bills by banks and other authorised forex dealers.
“Kindly be reminded that the Central Bank of Nigeria circular referenced COD/DIR/INT/CIR/001/002 and dated 9th April 2021, which explicitly frowned at this selective acceptance of deposit, is still in force and must be adhered to and complied with by all relevant parties.
“For the avoidance of doubt and further guidance on the circular, the content is hereby reissued as follows for strict compliance: All DMBs /authorized forex dealers should henceforth accept both old series and lower denominations of United States Dollars that are legal tender for deposit from their customers. The CBN will not hesitate to sanction any DMB or authorised forex dealers who refuse to accept old series/lower denominations of US Dollar bills from their customers,” the circular partly read.
Authorised currency dealers were also cautioned in the circular not to tamper with or deface US dollar banknotes because they consistently fail authentication checks when being processed and sorted.
On April 9, 2021, CBN initially sent out the warning in a circular that was signed by Ahmed Umar, the department’s then-director of currency operations.
