The Central Bank of Nigeria has just extended the deadline for the exchange of old naira notes for the newly designed ones until February 10.
This deadline is for the old N200, N500, and N1000 which had previously been set to be discontinued on January 31, 2023, but owing to the scarcity of the new ones and its attendant effects on the economy, there has been pressure on the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, to extend the deadline to alleviate the sufferings of swapping the old notes for the new ones.
This was after the National Assembly and multiple groups and individuals had called for an extension.
Emefiele had announced the extension in a statement signed on Sunday, January 29.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, had called for an immediate review of the naira redesign policy. This was because, according to the NBA, concerns were rife about current and future challenges surrounding the implementation of the policy, wrote Emefiele.
The association lamented how a hasty implementation of a similar policy in 1984 by the then-military government had not only brought huge financial losses for individuals and businesses but eventually collapsed the economy and led to the toppling of the administration.
