The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has stated that the February 10 deadline for the old naira stands.
According to Daily Trust, he stated this while briefing the diplomatic community at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja on Tuesday.
“The situation is substantially calming down since the commencement of over-the-counter payments to complement ATM disbursements and the use of super-agents. There is, therefore, no need to consider any shift from the deadline of February 12,” he said.
The order from the highest court, which pushed out the deadline to February 15 awaiting the court’s hearing, has caused some uncertainty, prompting the need for this clarification.
Speaking further, Emefiele said, “Some of our leaders are buying the new notes and storing them for whatever purpose and I will not expand further on that.”
It would also be recalled that Emefiele, has said that the CBN will continue to accept the old naira notes even after the deadline for swapping them for the newly designed currency notes.
He stated this while appearing before the House of Representatives committee on the new naira redesign and swap policy.
Emefiele said, “We (CBN) are mandated to collect this money (old naira notes), and I stand with the House of Representatives on this.”
“What does that mean?” It could have lost its legal tender status, which means we have moved on. But if you have money that you have not been able to send to the bank, we will certainly give you the opportunity to bring it back into the CBN to redeem it. Either you pay it to your bank account or you want to do an exchange, we will give it to you. You will not lose your money. That is the assurance I give to Nigerians.
