Naira Redesign: No Nigerian Will Lose Money – Emefiele

Central Bank governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele yesterday assured that no Nigerian would lose money due to the Naira redesign policy of the government. He added that the policy was in the overall interest of Nigeria’s economy.

This is just as the speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, assured Nigerians that the option of reviewing the deadline to redeem the old currency was not foreclosed.

Emefiele gave the assurance during a meeting with the ad-hoc committee interfacing with the apex Bank and the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Commercial Banks on the deadline for the swap of old Naira notes.

He added that subject to the provision of Section 20(3) of the CBN Act, Nigerians would be given the opportunity to redeem the face value of the Naira in their possession after the currency would have lost its legal tender status on February 10, 2023, deadline only at the CBN.

“Nigerians will not lose their money,” he declared, just as he sought the cooperation of the National Assembly to ensure the success of the programme.

While reeling out the steps taken by the bank to ensure the effective distribution of the new banknotes, he disclosed that about N1.9 trillion had so far been collected since the commencement of the exercise.

According to him, the currency redesign policy had so far recorded about a 75 per cent success rate given the fact that many of those in the rural and underserved locations across the 36 states of the country have had the opportunity of swapping their old banknotes for the new series of the banknotes.

Emefiele, who was accompanied to the meeting by all the four deputy governors at the bank, disclosed that the bank had deployed about 30,000 super agents to work with the bank’s staff currently in the hinterland to ensure that the underserved and vulnerable members of the society are adequately catered for.

The CBN Governor also disclosed that the CBN was working closely with relevant agencies of the federal government to ensure full compliance with the CBN guidelines issued to the deposit money bank for the seamless distribution of the new banknotes.

However, while speaking on the report of the committee, Gbajabiamila said if the pressure on Nigerians to redeem the old currency had not subsided when the deadline elapsed, the CBN would be opened to another review.

“This is very key, and it is not included in the report. But I heard the CBN has not foreclosed the option of another review,” Gbajabiamila said.

Speaking earlier, the chairman of the Special Ad-hoc committee, Hon Ado Doguwa, expressed the support of the House of Representatives for the cashless policy of the bank, stressing that the House would assist the CBN in achieving its mandate in that regard.

Dogowa welcomed the submission of the CBN Governor and stressed the need for more collaboration.

Meanwhile, the Ogun State team of the CBN for the ongoing nationwide sensitization programme on the newly redesigned Naira notes yesterday laid the blame for the current scarcity of the newly redesigned Naira notes being experienced across the state on commercial banks, saying the apex bank has done the needful.

The team, led by CBN’s deputy director, Banking Supervision Department, Kayode Makinde, specifically declared that most of the commercial banks in the state are the ones frustrating the apex bank’s efforts at ensuring that the newly redesigned Naira notes circulate round in the society.

Makinde, who spoke during an interview session at the Mowe – Ibafo axis of Obafemi – Owode local government area when he led a delegation of the CBN on an inspection tour of facilities of some of the commercial banks, noted that officials of some of those banks were deliberately flouting the CBN’s directives regarding how to dispense the newly redesigned Naira notes.

The deputy director, who along with other members of his team inspected the bank vaults in places visited, disclosed that most officials in the affected banks kept substantial amount of the new Naira notes in their bank vaults without loading them in the Automated Teller Machines (ATM) as instructed by the CBN.

The CBN team had visited commercial banks in Sagamu, Mowe – Ibafo axis of Obafemi- Owode local government area before proceeding to Ijebu Ode, Ago Iwoye and the Ijebu Igbo areas of the state where the team compelled heads of operations of each of the commercial banks visited to open their vault to ascertain that the new Naira notes received at each of the branches were dispensed to customers in accordance with the CBN’s laid down rules.