The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele has assured Nigerians that banks will continue to accept the old naira notes even after the deadline for swapping with the newly-designed currency notes.
The CBN Governor stated this while appearing before the before the House of Representatives committee on the new naira redesign and swap policy Tuesday.
He said subject to Section 20, Subsection 3 of the CBN Act 2007 and even after the old currencies have lost legal tender status, the CBN will continue to accept the old notes.
Emefiele, who had earlier failed to honour the House’s invitations, explained to the lawmakers that he was out of the country, saying that the CBN’s actions were in line with international best practices and the apex bank has to be in control of the currency in circulation.
He said that in 2015, N1.4 trillion was in circulation, and by last year it had risen to N3.33 trillion.
He explained that the reason for directing banks to ensure only ATM withdrawals was to limit the daily withdrawal of individuals.
The CBN boss decried the trend of the new notes being sighted at parties and stated he was in meetings with commercial banks to mitigate it.
The 61-year-old agreed that the policies would hurt some persons but claimed it was in the interest of the country especially in combating insecurity.
He, therefore, appealed to lawmakers to allow the programme to succeed.
The apex bank recently extended the deadline for the swap of the newly-designed N1,000, N500, and N200 notes following an outcry from Nigerians.
