•Apex bank gov says, about N1.5tn of old banknotes returned•Declares currency redesign has slowed down kidnapping, ransom taking •Says no cause for alarm over CBN’s exposure to federal govtThe Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria , Mr. Godwin Emefiele, yesterday declared that the January 31, 2023 deadline fixed by the apex bank for the return of old N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes would not be extended.
However, addressing journalists at the end of a two-day meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee in Abuja, the first in the year, the CBN governor insisted that the 100 days allowed for anyone to deposit the notes in commercial banks was more than adequate. In addition, MPC members yesterday resolved to raise the Monetary Policy Rate otherwise known as interest rate by 100 basis points to 17.5 per cent from 16.5 per cent.
According to Emefiele, of the total stamp duty collected, the Federal Inland Revenue Service had disbursed N226.45 billion to the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee while the sum of N144.23 billion was the balance with the CBN. Emefiele further disclosed that First Bank of Nigeria Plc, collected the highest stamp duty, which he said amounted to N71.6 billion.
He explained that it would amount to irresponsibility and dereliction on the part of the central bank to ignore the government in time of need and allow the economy to suffer. Emefiele said, “For us, it is not time to celebrate yet…This is not enough sign to loosen but be aggressive. “The reason is that just as the president had said on more than two occasions, and even to people privately, that for us 90 days – in fact, we feel it’s 100 days – is enough for anybody who has money or the old currency to deposit the money in the banks.
“So, we do not see any reason to begin to talk about a shift because people could not deposit their old monies into their banks.” He said, “I had a meeting with the Nigerian Governors forum last Thursday and some of them raised issues about oh, they are in the riverine areas, there are no banks in some of those riverine areas; even in the non-riverine areas there are some places where there are no banks.
Worried by the insistence of the apex bank that there would be no such extension, Senator Sadiq Umar, moved a motion on the floor of the red chamber yesterday, demanding the extension to July 31. The lawmakers also expressed dismay that the CBN had insisted on the January 31 deadline despite public outcry.
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