OLD NAIRA NOTES: No going back on January 31 deadline, CBN Governor insists
…Says 90 days enough to deposit old currency to banks
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, on Tuesday said that the 31 January deadline it announced for the validity of the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes remains.
Mr Emefiele made this known while addressing journalists after the apex bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja.
Speaking on the new notes, Mr Emefiele claimed that kidnapping and ransom-taking incidents have reduced since the three banknotes were redesigned. He also argued that the time given for the swap of the old naira notes with new ones was enough for Nigerians to get the new notes from commercial banks.
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“I must say here that unfortunately, I don’t have good news for those who feel that we should shift the deadline. My apologies,” Mr Emefiele said.
“The reason is because 90 days, we feel it’s 100 days, should be enough for those who have the old currency to deposit it, the money, in the banks. And we took every measure to ensure that all the banks were open to receive all old currencies. 100 days, we believe, is more than adequate.”
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