Nigerian banks and POS outlets are struggling with a shortage of the redesigned new Naira notes ahead of the CBN deadline of now February 10, 2023.
The scarcity of the new notes with several bank customers becoming stranded due to a lack of access to the new notes is making a lot of Nigerians fume.
Retailers and traders have been rejecting the old notes amid long queues at ATM galleries across the country also not making the situation easy on commoners.
On Sunday, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), gave permission for the deadline to be extended to February 10 after his recent meeting with him.
He also gave additional seven days to enable Nigerians to deposit their old naira notes after it ceases to be legal tender on February 10.
“10-day extension of the deadline from January 31, 2023, to February 10, 2023; to allow for the collection of more old notes legitimately held by Nigerians and achieve more success in cash swap in our rural communities after which all old notes outside the CBN losses their legal tender status.
‘’Our CBN staff currently on mass mobilization and monitoring together with officials of the EFCC and ICPC will work together to achieve these objectives.”
Before extending the deadline, the apex bank had refused to shift grounds despite coming under severe criticisms and significant pressure from the National Assembly, politicians, banks, customers, and key stakeholders.
The CBN governor had also failed to appear before the House four times, prompting the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, Tuesday, to declare his readiness to issue a warrant of arrest against him if he fails to appear before its committee last Thursday.
Enumerating the merits and benefits of the re-design, Emefiele said, “Our aim is mainly to make our Monetary Policy Decisions more efficacious and like you can see; we’ve started to see inflation trending downwards and exchange rates relatively stable.
‘’Secondly, we aim to support the efforts of our Security agencies in combating banditry and ransom-taking in Nigeria through this program and we can see that the military is making good progress in this important task in Nigeria.”
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