Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, on Sunday, January 29, 2023, revealed that part of the reasons the Federal Government decided on the redesign of currency denominations was the fact that N2.7 trillion was lying idle in people’s homes prior to 2015 when the Buhari administration came on board.
He said as at 2015 currency-in-circulation was only N1.4 trillion, while as at October 2022, currency in circulation had risen to N3.23 trillion, out of which only N500 billion was within the banking industry.
“N2.7 trillion was held permanently in people’s homes,” Emefiele stated after he paid a visit to President Muhammadu Buhari in Daura, Katsina state, where both parties approved of a ten-day extension for old currency swap.
Giving further explanations, the Apex bank Governor said ordinarily, when CBN releases currency into circulation, it is meant to be used and after effluxion of time, it returns to the CBN thereby keeping the volume of currency in circulation under the firm control of the CBN.
He said since the commencement of the currency redesign and other monetary programmes, about N1.9 trillion have been collected, leaving us with about N900 billion (N500 billion + N1.9 trillion).
With the approval of the President, the deadline for the currency swap has been moved from January 31, 2023, to February 10, 2023.
Buhari had on Sunday, urged the CBN to allow more time, discretion, and order to enable Nigerians successfully change their currencies to the redesigned notes, and reduce the risk of loss, especially among the underserved in rural areas.
Central Bank Extends Deadline For Swapping Old Naira Notes To February 10
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced a 10-day extension of the deadline for using old naira notes across Nigeria.
Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the apex bank, who spoke to journalists on Sunday, January 29, 2023. morning, said he had the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari for the extension.
The new deadline is now 10 February instead of the former 31 January deadline, he said.
Mr Emefiele spoke at the hometown of Buhari, a village called Daura, Katsina State, after a meeting with the president who is in his home state for official duties.
Mr Emefiele said Nigerians, who are yet to change their naira notes from the old to new ones, now have an opportunity to do so.
He said people must utilize the opportunity because the deadline will not be extended again.
The Central Bank of Nigeria, in October 2022, introduced redesigned 200, 500, and 1000 naira notes and gave a deadline of 31st January for the use of the old notes.
However, the new notes have been scarce, thus leading to calls for an extension.
Mr Emefiele did not elaborate on what the central bank was doing to resolve the scarcity of the new notes.
‘It’s illegal to reject old naira before January 31’ – CBN Cautions As Churches, Business Stop Collection
The Zamfara State branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has said rejecting the old Naira notes before the deadline given by the apex bank is illegal and punishable by law.
The CBN, therefore, directed the police to arrest those who refuse to collect the old notes, pointing out that they are still legal tender until after the 31st January 2023 deadline.
Daily Post gathered that the apex bank has officially directed five of the commercial banks in the state to, as a matter of urgency, release new notes, threatening to sanction them if they failed to adhere to the directive.
Commenting on the scarcity of new notes during a sensitization workshop organised by the Association of Point of Sales, POS, operators in the state held on Thursday, January 26, 2023, at Maryam Hall in Gusau, the controller of CBN in the state, Mallam Buhari Abbas, gave reasons why the apex bank introduced the new notes.
Abbas, therefore, urged operators of POS to consider and assist in opening a new bank account for anyone who wants to deposit money and has no account.
“You should do selfless service by not allowing people to lose their money because they don’t have accounts, assist, help those who want to deposit their money”, he added.
According to him, the CBN had introduced new notes to reduce notes being in circulation in the hand of the public.
“More than 80% of Naira notes were in the hands of people, and the CBN has studied this and decided to introduce the policy to reduce the notes at hand, and the policy will harmonize the interest rate,” he said.
He noted that introducing the new CBN policy was to bring more development to the country, saying that the policy, if properly utilized, would boost businesses.
Source: Daily Post
