The House of Representatives has rejected the February 10 deadline for the phasing out of old currency notes announced by the Central Bank of Nigeria on Sunday.
The House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on New Naira Re-design and Naira Swap Policy on Sunday described the new date as a mere political gimmick to further deceive Nigerians and worsen their economic and social livelihood.
The PUNCH reported that the CBN had earlier fixed January 31 as the deadline for the exchange of old N1,000, N500 and N200 notes. Emefiele said that for 19 years, the CBN hadn’t re-design the naira, whereas, he said, this should normally have been done within a five to eight years window. He noted, “Ladies and Gentlemen, available data at the Central Bank of Nigeria has shown that in 2015, Currency -in circulation was only N1.4tn. As of October 2022, currency in circulation had risen to N3.23tn; out of which only N500bn was within the banking industry and N2.7tn was held permanently in people’s homes.
‘’Our CBN staff currently on mass mobilization and monitoring together with officials of the EFCC and ICPC will work together to achieve these objectives.”“A seven-day grace period, beginning on February 10 to February 17, 2023, in compliance with sections 20 and 22 of the CBN Act allowing Nigerians to deposit their old notes at the CBN after the February deadline when the old currency would have lost its legal tender status,” he further disclosed.
According to him, 30,000 Super Agents have been deployed to assist in the cash swap initiative in the hinterlands, rural areas, and regions underserved by banks. The Ilorin branch controller of CBN, Mr. Lamidi Najim stated this in Ilorin during the monitoring activities embarked on by the management of the branch to some banks in the state.
“Nigeria as a developing economy and a nascent democracy must respect the principle of the rule of law. And the House would go ahead to sign an arrest warrant to compel the CBN Governor to appear before the Ad hoc committee.” This came as the Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria also kicked against the 10 days. The council declared that five months extension should be the ideal period for the exchange of old naira notes for new ones.
Falana in a message said, “Instead of preparing for the printing of new naira notes and distribution to the banks, Emefiele travelled out of the country. While he was away, the State Security Service declared him wanted for terrorism financing.
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