Emefiele says banks will continue to accept old naira notes after the stipulated deadline.
NewsOnline reports that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has said banks will continue to accept old naira notes after the February 10 deadline.
Emefiele added that the apex bank will also continue to collect the old naira notes from commercial banks after the stipulated deadline.
The apex bank recently extended the deadline for the swap of the newly-designed N1,000 and N500 and N200 notes following an outcry from Nigerians.
But while appearing before the House of Representatives committee on the new naira redesign and naira swap policy Tuesday, the CBN chief said banks will still accept the old notes after the deadline.
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He said subject to Section 20, Subsection 3 of the CBN Act 2007, even after the old currencies have lost legal tender status, the CBN will continue to accept the old notes.
Speaking about the redesign of the naira, he said the CBN’s actions were in line with international best practices and the apex bank has to be in control of the currency in circulation.
Emefiele said in 2015 N1.4 trillion was in circulation, and by last year it had risen to N3.33 trillion.
He explained that the reason for directing banks to ensure only ATM withdrawals was to limit the daily withdrawal of individuals.
The CBN boss decried the trend of the new notes being sighted at parties and stated he was in meetings with commercial banks to mitigate these.
Emefiele agreed that the policies would hurt some persons but claimed it was in the interest of the country especially in combating insecurity.
