The Central Bank of Nigeria’s governor, Godwin Emefiele, said on Tuesday that commercial banks in Nigeria will continue to accept old naira notes from clients after the deadline of February 10.
Emefiele said this while testifying before the House-established ad hoc committee on the CBN’s naira redesign policy, though he did not specify how long the banks would accept the expired notes.
Femi Gbajabiamila, the Speaker of the House, accused the CBN governor of violating Section 20 of the CBN Act, which he claimed requires commercial banks to accept old notes even after the deadline has passed.
In a speech on Thursday, Gbajabiamila had said, “Such changed naira notes will no longer be legal tender after the expiration date, but it also says that even five months, three months, or two months after, even in June, all the old notes presented to the bank shall be redeemed by the bank.
Speaking to the ad hoc committee, Emefiele declared that he agreed with the legislators regarding Section 20 of the CBN Act.
“Section 20 states that we are required to collect that money even after the old currency has lost its legal tender status. He continued, “If you have money that you haven’t been able to send to the bank, I stand with the House of Representatives on this. We’ll definitely give you the chance to redeem them by bringing them back into the CBN. We give it to you with the option to pay with a bank transfer or make an exchange. Your money won’t be lost. The assurance I offer Nigerians is this.
He claimed that the policy ought to have been implemented years ago and that the CBN had only taken advantage of the chance to increase the economy’s cashless nature. He predicted that Nigerians would quickly see the advantages of the policy.
After the lengthy hearing, which lasted over an hour, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, the chairman of the ad hoc committee, requested an executive (closed-door) session with the committee’s members.
Later, the Majority Leader and members entered the room where plenary was taking place.
The House laid, debated, and approved the committee’s report.
Later, more information
