The Nigerian Senate has urged the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, to extend the January 31st deadline for old naira notes withdrawal to July 31st, 2023.
The Senate reached this resolution during Tuesday’s plenary session which was chaired by Senate President Ahmad Lawan.
Senate resolves that:
i. The @cenbank should immediately extend the use of the old notes by six months from January 31st to July 31st 2023 with immediate effect;
— The Nigerian Senate (@NGRSenate) January 24, 2023
Recall that the apex bank had insisted that it will not go back on its decision on the set deadline.
Need for an extension: The Senate said it was necessary to extend the deadline. The lawmakers also urged that banks should open an exchange window where people who don’t have a bank account can exchange their old notes with new notes. They said:
- “The Central bank should immediately extend the use of the old notes by six months from January 31st to July 31st 2023 with immediate effect;
- “The Governor should compel banks to open an exchange window where people who don’t have a bank account can exchange their old notes with the new note.”
Ensuring financial inclusion: The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan also called for inclusion, as most Nigerians transact with cash, he said:
- “In most parts of Nigeria, there are no banks & our people transact in cash most often than not. There is no doubt that we must have a policy of inclusion in getting our people who have no banks available to them and the CBN can have a special program for that.
- “We must have policies by the CBN to ensure that we have branches of banks established more in our rural areas.”
In case you missed it: The Nigerian Central Bank announced the launch of a Cash Swap Programme for rural and underserved areas, which took effect from Monday, January 23, 2023.
CBN stated that agents shall exchange a maximum of N10,000 per person.
CBN noted that in furtherance of its Naira redesign policy, it has sustained its nationwide awareness program, enforced speedy collection of the new notes at CBN branches by the Deposit Money Banks(DMBs), and mandated issuance of their new notes through Automated Teller Machines(ATMs) to ensure distribution is fair, transparent and evenly spread across the country.