Friday, March 29, 2024

UPDATE: Buhari approves 10-day extension of old Naira swap

Following mass outcry against the January 31 deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria for the swapping of old naira notes, President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday in Daura, Katsina State, approved a 10-day extension of the deadline.

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, who confirmed this to newsmen in Daura, Katsina State, revealed that the new deadline is now Feb. 10.

Emefiele, who was in Daura on Sunday morning, had a closed-door meeting with President Buhari, where he obtained the approval. He said Nigerians, who were yet to change their old Naira notes to new ones, “now have an opportunity to do so”.

The apex bank’s governor, however, cautioned that people must utilise the opportunity because the deadline would not be extended again.

The CBN had fixed Jan. 31 as the deadline for the legitimacy of the old Naira notes.

The redesigned Naira notes, comprising N200, N500 and N1,000, became legal tender on Dec. 15, 2022, after they were unveiled by President Buhari on Nov. 23, 2022, in Abuja.

Reports across the country before Sunday morning indicated that traders and business owners were asking their customers to pay with new notes.

It was also discovered that some of the Automated Teller Machines across many states including the Federal Capital Territory were still dispensing the old Naira notes, while there were long queues at few ATMs dispensing the redesigned Naira notes.

Some banks dispensing the new notes had configured their ATMs to dispense N5,000 or N10,000 per transaction.

Also, some Point of Sale (PoS) operators were still paying with old Naira notes, while some who had the redesigned Naira notes increased their charges by 100 to 200 per cent. NAN

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