The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that only the old N200 notes will be reissued and will circulate alongside the new notes at the behest of President Muhammadu Buhari. The bank confirmed this in a statement signed on Tuesday in Lagos by Edward Adamu, vice president of corporate services, and Osita Nwanisobi, director of corporate communications at CBN.
CBN said in a fake press release that Buhari would not allow the reissuance and redistribution of old currency notes for 70 days until May 1st. “The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria was attracted by a fake press release allegedly from the bank.
The fake press release purported that President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the reissuance and release of old N500 and N1000 notes as legal tender in the country.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Central Bank of Nigeria reiterates that in line with the directives of Mr. President, only N200 old notes are to be reissued and to circulate concurrently with the new notes.
“Members of the public are, therefore, advised to ignore this fake news,” it said.
It added that the bank was working with the law enforcement agencies to investigate, apprehend and prosecute the purveyors of the fake news.
The statement urged Nigerians to be guided and to ignore the fake press release credited to the President.