Naira design: CBN insists on February 10 Deadlineas Ogun threatens to shutdown banks rejecting old notes
By Grace Kehinde, Tijani Salako and Segun Ayinde
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has reaffirmed his stance saying the February 10, 2023 deadline won’t be postponed.
He disclosed this during a visit on Tuesday to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to discuss the monetary and currency redesign policy of the bank.
Emefiele insisted that there was no need to shift the deadline.
He said, “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.”
This comes as the Supreme Court earlier restrained the Federal Government from implementing the February 12 deadline for the currency swap.
A seven-man panel of the apex court led by Justice John Okoro, in a unanimous ruling, granted an interim injunction restraining the Federal Government, the Central Bank of Nigeria and commercial banks from implementing the Friday terminal date for the old naira notes.
He also said that Point of Sale agents who charge above N200 for cash swap will be arrested and jailed when caught.
The CBN governor further added that the PoSoperators can come to the CBN to be compensated for any extra cost incurred in getting the new notes rather than charging a higher fee on customers.
In the meantime, Ogun State Governor, DapoAbiodun has threatened to shut down any commercial banks operating in the state that refused to accept old naira notes of N200, N500 and N1000 from members of the public.
The warning is follows to complains received from the people by the state government that commercial banks and some filling stations are rejecting the old naira notes as legal tender.
He disclosed this yesterday while addressing market men and women at Itoku Kampala market in Abeokuta, as part of his reelection campaign to Abeokuta North Local Government Areas.
Abiodun, who frowned at the action of the banks, noted that since the new naira notes was not available, commercial banks must accept the old notes to ease the suffering of the people.
He called on the people to remain calm, assuringthat his administration was working assiduously to ensure that the present situation was brought under control.
Speaking on the epileptic power supply affecting the market, the governor assured that he would reach out to the appropriate authority to improve on the power supply to the market.
He noted that the controversy surrounding the non-issuance of documents to some shop owners at the market would be addressed.
