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CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele has said BANKS will ACCEPT OLD NAIRA NOTES AFTER DEADLINE.
Banks will continue to accept old naira notes even after the deadline to exchange them for the newly designed notes, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele has said.
The apex bank recently extended the deadline for the exchange of the newly designed N1,000, N500 and N200 notes following an outcry by Nigerians.
But when he appeared before the House of Representatives committee on the new naira redesign and swap policy on Tuesday, the CBN boss said banks would still accept the old notes even after the deadline.
He said subject to Section 20, Sub-Section 3 of the CBN Act 2007 and even after the old currencies lose their legal tender status, the CBN will continue to accept the old notes.
The CBN boss, who had earlier disregarded the invitation of the House, explained to the lawmakers that he was out of the country.
Speaking on the redesign of the naira, he said the CBN's actions are in line with international best practices and the apex bank must keep the currency in circulation under control.
Mr. Emefiele said there was N1.4 trillion in circulation in 2015 and by last year it had grown to N3.33 trillion.
He explained that the reason why the banks were ordered to provide only ATM withdrawals was to limit the daily withdrawals of individuals.
The CBN boss criticized the trend of seeing the new notes at parties and said he was meeting with commercial banks to mitigate it.
The 61-year-old agreed that the policy would harm some individuals, but argued that it was in the country's interest, especially in the fight against insecurity.
He therefore appealed to lawmakers to allow the program to succeed.
Emefiele failed to appear before lawmakers despite initial requests in a series of letters saying he was in the United States on an important assignment.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, further stated that he would not hesitate to ask the Inspector General of Police, Usman Babu Alkali, to issue an arrest warrant for Emiefele and compel him to appear before the House.
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The bank set a deadline for the use of old banknotes until January 31.
However, the lack of new notes forced the House to set up an ad-hoc committee to resolve the difficulties between the CBN and commercial banks, despite Emefiele's insistence that many banks were hoarding the notes.