Banks To Accept Old Naira Notes After Feb 10 Deadline

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele, has finally appeared before the House of Representatives.

Emefeile is currently before the house of representatives ad hoc committee set up by the House, which is chaired by Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa to investigate the issues on the currency redesign and naira swap policy.

After multiple invitations were ignored by the Governor the lawmakers threatened to issue a warrant of arrest against him.

On Thursday, Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the house, said he will issue a warrant to the inspector-general of police (IGP) to compel the attendance of the CBN governor to respond to the summon of the house on Tuesday (today).

Emefiele arrived before the lawmakers in the company of top officials of the CBN, including Kingsley Obiora, deputy governor, and economic policy directorate.

Emefiele while addressing the committee explained that his prior absence was due to being out of the country and apologized for ignoring previous invitations.

In his address to the committee, Emefiele emphasized the CBN’s actions towards the redesign of the naira were in line with international best practices and the need for the apex bank to be in control of the currency in circulation.

Emefiele added that commercial banks will still continue to accept old naira notes even after the February 10 deadline.

Emefiele made reference to the CBN act which mandates the apex bank to continue to accept old notes after their expiration.

However, the CBN governor did not mention a duration of when the banks will stop collecting the old notes.

Section 20 (3) of the CBN act states: “Notwithstanding sub-sections (1) and (2) of this section, the bank shall have power, if directed to do so by the president and after giving reasonable notice on that behalf, to call in any of its notes or coins on payment of the face value thereof and any note or coin with respect to which a notice has been given under this sub-section, shall, on the expiration of the notice, cease to be legal tender, but, subject to section 22 of this act, shall be redeemed by the bank upon demand”.

Speaking further on the CBN act, he explained that even after the old currency has lost its legal tender status “we (CBN) are mandated to collect this money (old notes) and I stand with the house of representatives on this”.

“What does that mean? It could (old notes) have lost its legal tender status which means we have moved on. But if you have money that you have not been able to send to the bank, we will certainly give you the opportunity to bring them back into the CBN to redeem it.

“Either you pay it to your bank account or you want to do an exchange, we will give you. You will not lose your money. This is the assurance I give to Nigerians,” Emefiele said.