The Central Bank of Nigeria has said it will not extend the January 31st deadliner for the implementation of the new naira notes.
Governor of the apex bank, Godwin Emefiele disclosed this on Tuesday after this month’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting.
Mr Emefiele said there is no reason for a shift, as the new currencies are available says the governor
The governor’s comment is coming almost the same time the Senate ordered the bankers’ bank to extend the deadline of the policy to July 31st. He insisted there is adequate quantity of new notes available and will fully circulate with time
According to the governor, CBN’s super agents are available in unbanked areas for naira swop. He said those tweeting against the policy are not the vulnerable, they know themselves and he will not go with them on that journey.
The CBN governor said between 1.3-1.5 Trillion naira of the old cash in circulation has been deposited into the banks since the policy was announced. Hopefully it would have increased to 2trillion by the January 31st deadline.
Meanwhile, the Senate also urged banks to permit unbanked Nigerians to exchange old naira notes for the currency.
Recall that the apex bank had in the reminder posted on its Twitter account on Friday advised Nigerians to return all the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes in their possession to their respective deposit banks before the deadline.
“The old series of N200, N500 and N1,000 notes will cease to be legal tender by January 31, 2023.
“A reminder to the general public that the old series of N200, N500 and N1,000 will cease to be legal tender by January 31, 2023. You are advised to return them to your bank before the deadline,” the bank said.
The bank also assured Nigerians that no money would be removed from any amount of money deposited from any account till January 31st, but warned that any commercial bank that refused to dispense the new notes either at ATM or counter would be sanctioned.
