The Central Bank of Nigeria has threatened to sanction deposit money banks and authorised bureau de change operators who reject old and lower denomination of the United States dollar bills.
The bank in a circular signed by its director, currency operations department, Ahmed Umar, directed all DMOs, BDC and the general public to accept both old series and lower denominations of USD that are legal tender.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN} has in recent times been inundated with complaints from members of the public on the rejection of old/lower denominations of US dollar bills by Deposit money banks (OMBs) and other authorized forex dealers,” the bank said in a statement Tuesday.
“All OMBs/authorized forex dealers should henceforth accept both old series and lower denominations of United States Dollars (USD) that are legal tender for deposit from their customers.
“The CBN will not hesitate to sanction any DMB or other authorized forex dealers who refuse to accept old series/lower denominations of US Dollar from their customers.”
The CBN also cautioned all forex dealers against defacing/stamping US dollar banknotes as such notes always fail authentication tests during processing/sorting.
