Mr. Godwin Emefiele who is the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Tuesday assured that no Nigerian would lose money due to the Naira redesign policy of the government.
He pointed out that the policy was in the overall interest of Nigeria’s economy.
This comes right after Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the House of Representatives, assured Nigerians that the possibility of extending the deadline for exchanging old cash was not eliminated.
In a meeting with the ad hoc committee coordinating with the apex bank and the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Commercial Banks regarding the deadline for the exchange of obsolete Naira notes, Emefiele provided the guarantee.
Read Also: Naira Swap: Why Buhari Approved Deadline Extension — Emefiele
He added that subject to the provision of Section 20 (3) of the CBN Act, Nigerians would be given the opportunity to redeem the face value of the Naira in their possession after the currency would have lost its legal tender status on February 10, 2023, deadline only at the CBN.
While pointing out the steps taken by the bank to ensure the effective distribution of the new banknotes, he disclosed that about N1.9 trillion had so far been collected since the commencement of the exercise.
According to him, the currency redesign policy had so far recorded about a 75 percent success rate given the fact that many of those in the rural and underserved locations across the 36 states of the country have had the opportunity of swapping their old banknotes for the new series of the banknotes.
Emefiele, who was accompanied to the meeting by all the four deputy governors at the bank, disclosed that the bank had deployed about 30,000 super agents to work with the bank’s staff currently in the hinterland to ensure that the underserved and vulnerable members of the society are adequately catered for.