Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has said the newly redesigned Naira notes are already in banks and ready for issuance.
According to a statement in CBN’s official Twitter handle, Emefiele said so in Daura while on a visit to brief President Muhammadu Buhari on the Naira redesign and the recently reintroduced cashless policy.
#CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, says newly redesigned N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes are now in banks and ready for issuance to members of the public.
— Central Bank of Nigeria (@cenbank) December 8, 2022
He said that the currency redesign and reintroduced cashless policies were not targeted at anybody but are for the good and development of the Nigerian economy.
He urged Nigerians to embrace the various electronic channels available for banking and financial service transactions in Nigeria.
“The newly redesigned N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes are now in banks and ready for issuance to members of the public.
“The currency redesign and reintroduced cashless policies are not targeted at anybody but are for the good and development of the Nigerian economy.
” The CBN deferred the cashless policy severally to prepare and deepen Nigeria’s payments system infrastructure,” he said.
Emefiele advised Nigerians to take their old N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes to the banks before January 31, 2023, deadline.
The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that the apex bank had announced plans to redesign certain denominations of the Naira during its Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, meeting on October 26.
It, thus, set Dec. 15 as the official start date for the circulation of the new naira notes, which President Muhammadu Buhari, unveiled on Nov. 23.
The CBN also, recently, issued a revised cash withdrawal policy, stating that cash withdrawals above N100,000 and N500,000 for individuals and corporate organisations will henceforth attract five per cent and 10 per cent, respectively.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives at Thursday plenary asked the apex bank to suspend implementation of the cash withdrawal policy.
The legislators asked Emefiele to appear next Thursday, to explain to the House on the impact and significance of the new policy.
The suspension is to last pending the outcome of the expected engagement with the House on the compliance with the relevant sections of the CBN act and the 1999 constitution on the monetary policies of the CBN.
Naira Redesign: Nigerian Senate To Debate New Central Bank Cash Withdrawal Policy
The Senate has set Tuesday, December 13, 2022, to debate the latest Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, policy over cash withdrawal limits.
The Senate raised concerns in its plenary on Wednesday, December 7, 2022.
Senate Minority Leader Aduda Phillip, in a point of order, had drawn the attention of his colleagues to the CBN’s new policy and demanded caution as it will affect many citizens, small business owners.
Responding to this, Senate President Ahmad Lawan, who cautioned the CBN not to approach the policy at once, directed the committee on banking to engage the CBN and discuss the matter during the screening of the CBN Deputy Governor, expected to hold before the coming week.
Under the new withdrawal policy, the CBN restricted the maximum weekly cash withdrawal over the counter, OTC, by corporate organisations and individuals to N500,000 and N100,000, respectively.
The new withdrawal regime pegged the maximum cash withdrawal per week via Automated teller Machine, ATM, at N100,000, subject to a maximum of N20,000 cash withdrawal daily.
