After extending the deadline for exchanging old naira notes for new ones until February 10, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has now yielded to pressure.
The difficulty Nigerians had exchanging their old cash for new ones made the prolongation necessary.
In a statement released on Sunday, CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele said that the choice to redesign the Naira was already paying dividends because inflation has begun to decline and exchange rates are largely steady.
He continued by saying that under this initiative, the military is already making excellent strides against banditry and ransom-taking in Nigeria.
Emefiele pointed out that the statistics at hand indicated that just N1.4 trillion worth of money was in circulation in 2015.
However, as of October 2022, there were N3.23 trillion worth of notes in circulation, of which only N500 billion were retained by the banking sector and N2.7 trillion were kept in households permanently.
The CBN Governor stated that typically, when the CBN releases money into circulation, it is intended to be spent and, after some period of time has passed, it is returned to the CBN, keeping the amount of money in circulation firmly within the CBN’s control.
He said: “So far and since the commencement of this programme, we have collected about N1.9 trillion; leaving us with about N900 billion.
“Aside from those holding illicit or stolen naira in their homes for speculative purposes, we do aim to give all Nigerians that have naira legitimately earned and trapped, the opportunity to deposit their legitimately trapped monies at the CBN for exchange.
“A seven-day grace period, beginning on February 10 to February 17, 2023, in compliance with Sections 20(3) and 22 of the CBN Act allowing Nigerians to deposit their old notes at the CBN after the February deadline when the old currency would have lost its Legal Tender status.”
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