THE Cenntral Bank of Nigeria will not extend the deadline for swapping old naira notes, the apex bank said.
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who reemphasized this during a briefing office in Lagos, said that the CBN and other stakeholders are already looking at addressing areas where there are pressures.
“I would say no. I am sure that people are going to say only last week I said no, but I want to say unfortunately again, this time we will not be looking at extension of deadline because we as the central bank, deposit money banks and other important stakeholders, we are looking at areas where there is pressure and we are doing everything possible to address those areas of pressure,” Emefiele said.
“We have had cases where some bank branches have some cash in their vaults and because there was no demand for them and we asked central bank officials when reported to move those monies away and move them to areas where there is pressure. So those are some of the logistical challenges that we faced and we are doing everything possible to address them. So I am not going to make any promise to anyone that there would be any further extension of this deadline,” Emefiele said.
The CBN boss also acknowledged the pains Nigerians are facing in accessing the new naira notes.
He said CBN will extend cash swaps to microfinance banks and engage 30,000 super agents in the hinterlands as part of new measures to accelerate the circulation of new naira notes.
Emefiele added that the CBN is discussing with banks to make alternative channels easily accessible.
