Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele on Sunday announced the extension for the use of old naira notes from January 31 to February 10 after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Daura, Katsina State.
Mr Emefiele said President Buhari approved the extension in order to enable Nigerians successfully change their currencies to the redesigned notes, and reduce the risk of loss, especially among the underserved in rural areas.
Briefing newsmen after the meeting, the CBN governor said the currency swap had achieved more than 75 per cent success rate of the N2.7 trillion held outside the banking system.
According to him, this achievement can be seen with a drop in the rate of inflation, more stability of foreign exchange rates, and noticeable impact on security, especially in banditry and kidnapping figures.
The CBN governor noted that redesigns were supposed to be every five to eight years.
“First, I will like to thank the President for giving the CBN the approval to embark on this ambitious programme because, like I said, in the past, the CBN has not had the opportunity to embark on such currency redesign programme in the last 19 years.
“And indeed, let me emphasise, that only an incorruptible leader of the President’s stature can give such approval to the CBN.
“Our aim is mainly to make Monetary Policy Decisions more efficacious and as you can see; we have started to see inflation trending downwards and exchange rates relatively stable.
“Secondly, we aim to support the efforts of our security agencies in combating banditry and ransom-taking in Nigeria through this programme and we see that the military are making good progress in this important task,” Emefiele said.
