FACT-CHECK: Did CBN Extend Deadline for Old Naira Notes to July 31st? 

NOTE: This fact-check by PRNigeria was published on January 28, 2023, a day before the CBN Extends Deadline for Old Naira Notes to Feb 10, 2023

FACT-CHECK: Did CBN Extend the Deadline for Old Naira Notes to July 31st? 

CLAIM: In the heat of the controversy over the redesigned new Naira note, several posts on Social Media claim that, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has extended the deadline for return of old notes. A 36-second TikTok video accompanying the picture of the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele claims that the Bank has extended the deadline for old naira notes to July 13th, 2023. 

FULL-TEXT: The claimer spoke in Hausa in the video. For objective interpretation of language, PRNigeria asked a staff member of its Hausa segment to translate the video into English. 

The translated version reads: “ breaking news for Nigerians who are worried about the currency change policy. Kindly pay attention and listen to me. CBN boss has announced that the deadline for old naira notes has been extended from January 31st to July 31st. Therefore, those who didn’t change their old currency should do that at their convenient time. I hope Nigerians will find this news pleasing…” 

Using the TikTok user’s name as watermarked on the video, PRNigeria traced the origin of the video and observed that it has generated 11.8k likes, 952 comments, and 1.6k shares, at the time of carrying out this fact-check. 

Similarly, PRNigeria discovered that the owner of the TikTok account—Realgwalmi—is a Kannywood artist, editor and cameraman as written in his bio. The account has 15.1k followers and has published 216 videos. 

Verifying the authenticity of the claim, PRNigeria reached out to the CBN’s headquarters, in Abuja. 

A staff member of the Apex bank headquartered in Abuja, who asked to remain anonymous, told PRNigeria‘s correspondent that the deadline for old naira notes remains January 31st and no changes or extension was made as of January 28, 2023.

Further checks by PRNigeria revealed that the CBN Governor didn’t make any announcement regarding the extension of the deadline for the old naira. 

Meanwhile, the last time CBN spoke regarding the deadline for old currencies was at the first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in Abuja, on Tuesday January 24, 2023.

He apologized to Nigerians for not extending the deadline, stating that 100 days from when the announcement was made to the expiration date was enough for Nigerians to deposit their old notes.

CONCLUSION: Facts gathered by PRNigeria revealed that the official deadline for old naira notes remains January 31st. PRNigeria, therefore, concludes that the claim that CBN had extended the deadline is FALSE.

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