After evading the invitations of the Nigerian House of Representatives for a while, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele finally appears before the ad hoc committee.
Emefiele, responded to questions directed towards him during the meeting while making efforts to assure the lawmakers that the CBN understands what Nigerians are going through, as such a mechanism has been put in place to ensure that old naira notes are accepted after the deadline.
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He said subject to Section 20, Subsection 3 of the CBN Act 2007 and even after the old currencies have lost legal tender status, the CBN will continue to accept the old notes.
The Apex bank boss made this known while appearing before the fact-finding ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives in Abuja on Tuesday.
According to the CBN governor, “what this means is that the CBN, has granted Nigerians with the old naira notes that has lost its legal tender status, an opportunity to come with it to the apex bank to make deposits and redeem them.
Either you pay it to your bank account or you want to do exchange, we will give you. You will not lose your money. That is the assurance I give to Nigerians.”
Speaking about the redesign of the naira, he said CBN’s actions were in line with international best practices and the apex bank has to be in control of the currency in circulation.
Mr. 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.
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Recall that the speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila had issued a threat of arrest on the CBN governor should he continue to fail to appear before the fact-finding ad hoc committee of the house.
With this information Nigerians can now heave a sigh of relief, knowing that after the deadline as specified by the CBN, they would not have lost their monies yet.
