Senate urges CBN to extend deadline for new Naira notes
Following insistence by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stick to its January 31 deadline for discontinuation of use of the old Naira notes, the Senate has once again asked the regulatory bank to extend the deadline till July 31, 2023.
It would be recalled that the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, last Tuesday, said the regulatory bank will not extend the deadline to halt the use of the old 200, 500, and 1000 Naira notes.
Emefiele said this during the CBN/Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) briefing in Abuja.
“I don’t have good news for those who feel we should shift the deadline, my apologies,” Emefiele said.
“The reason is because 90 days should be enough for those who have the old currency to deposit it in the banks,” Emefiele said.
Reacting to the CBN decision, the senate Tuesday, argued that the policy should be prolonged because banks are still issuing the old notes due to a lack of new naira notes.
The lawmakers re-echoed the hardship the programme is putting Nigerians through, noting that there are lengthy lines at banks all over the nation as customers wait to deposit their old notes and obtain new ones.
Additionally, several lawmakers requested that the Senate support the House of Representatives’ earlier proposal for an extension of the policy and order CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele to extend the deadline.
Similarly, the lower chambers, the House of Representatives had resolved to invite Deposit Money Banks; also known as commercial banks, on Wednesday over the scarcity of new naira notes.
Under the auspices of the Bankers’ Committee; the Managing Directors/Chief Executive Officers of the banks will meet with an ad hoc committee of the House that will be led by the Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa.
In a plenary session, the House decided that the banks should be asked to explain the allegedly inadequate supply from the Central Bank of Nigeria; and then the Lawmakers would question the top officials of the top bank.
The House also decided to add a six-month window to the period for exchanging old notes for new ones.
The resolution followed the unanimous adoption of a motion of urgent public importance moved by a member of the House from Katsina State, Sara Soli, at the opening of the session.
Soli noted that the CBN was insisting on the January 31 validity deadline for the new N1,000, N500 and N200 notes; despite that Nigerians have limited access to them.
