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 notes made the prolongation necessary.
In a statement released on Sunday, CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele claimed that the choice to redesign the Naira was already paying dividends because inflation has begun to decline and exchange rates are largely stable.
He continued by saying that under this programme, the military is already making good 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 held 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.
"We have collected roughly N1.9 trillion since the start of this scheme, leaving us with about N900 billion," he stated.
We do intend to enable all Nigerians who have naira legitimately earned and trapped, the chance to deposit their legitimately trapped funds to the CBN for exchange, aside from those hoarding illegal or stolen naira in their houses for speculative purposes.
In accordance with Sections 20(3) and 22 of the CBN Act, there will be a seven-day grace period from February 10 to February 17, 2023, allowing Nigerians to deposit their old notes with the CBN after the day in February when they would have lost their legal tender status.
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