Banks must accept old naira notes after 10 February deadline — Emefiele

The governors Central Bank of NigeriaGodwin Emefiele said commercial banks should accept old Naira notes even after the February 10 deadline.

Mr. Emefiele disclosed this on Tuesday while reviewing the implementation of the policy at the ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives.

The CBN governor said the CBN is in line with Section 20(3) of the Act, which stipulates that commercial banks must accept old notes after a certain period.

Article 20, Article 3 of the Act states: “Notwithstanding paragraphs 1 and 2 of this section, the Bank shall have the power, if so ordered by the President and after giving reasonable notice in this behalf, to make one of its notes or coins upon payment of its face value call and the banknote or coin to which a notice has been given in accordance with this subsection, when the notice expires, will cease to be legal value, but, according to article 22 of this Law, the Bank will redeem it when requested.

Mr. Emefiele said commercial banks must accept the money even after the February 10 deadline.

Although Mr. Emefiele on Sunday announced February 17 as a “grace period” for Nigerians to save money, the lawmakers insisted it should be months, not days.

No one will lose money—Emefiele

Mr. Emefiele also assured the lawmakers that Nigerians will not lose money because of the new policy. He explained that the CBN is taking various measures to ensure the proper circulation of the new cash.

“We deployed all our staff, we effectively closed Abuja, we closed Lagos. We told all staff, go to your place.

“In the last three and a half weeks, they have been in villages that take money, even though the banks failed. They take cash from the CBN and exchange cash for everyone. They are returning five million naira to the CBN,” he said.

He added that the CBN will work with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).

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“We saw some bank failures, and we have approached EFCC, ICPC and NFIU. They are currently working with our officials nationwide. We got more than 75 percent,” he said.

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Mr. Emefiele did not answer any of the questions put to him by the members of parliament. On the contrary, he promised to consider them.