New naira: Govs, Emefiele meet over policy

Wilson Adekumola

Members of the Nigeria Governor’s Forum will on Thursday meet the Governor of Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele to discuss some of the bank’s recent policies.

The NGF spokesperson, Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo said, in a statement on Tuesday night that “Governor’s plan to engage Emefiele on the economic and security implication of naira redesign and withdrawal policies.’

Bello-Barkindo noted that the NGF Chairman, Governor Aminu Tmbuwal of Sokoto State has sent an invitation to Emefiele on the meeting to be held virtually at 9pm on Thursday. According to the NGF Director General, Asishana Bayo Okauru, the meeting will centre on the recent CBN policy of redesigning the naira notes.

Bello-Barkindo stated,“For the virtual meeting, the agenda is titled: “The Economic and Security implication of naira redesign and withdrawal policy,’ and it has lingered for some time now.“

The discussion promises to foster participation and dialogue between various stakeholders including governments and civil society organization to come out with a solution to the lingering issue.”

Recalled, that the CBN had on October 26, 2022 announced the initial decision of the CBN to redesign the naira note.

The CBN later gave directives that Nigerians should not wait until January 31, 2023 which was set as the deadline for the use of old notes, to get the new note.CBN, on December 6, last year, then announced the policy limiting over-the-counter cash withdrawal by individual and corporate organization to N100,000 and N500,000 per week.

As a result of the intervention of National Assembly, the CBN issued a circular two weeks after, to increase the cash withdrawal limit per week to N500,000 for individual and N5m for corporate organization.