Emefiele meets Diplomatic Community, says old notes deadline Sacrosanct .
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has met with members of the Diplomatic Community over the Naira redesign policy.
Emefiele who met with the corps in Abuja Tuesday explained the rationale for the policy and noted that extending the deadline for the circulation of the old notes of the affected denominations of N200, N500, and N1,000 notes was not necessary.
He noted that some deposit money banks were trying to sabotage the policy and that such people would be sanctioned, along with Point of Sales (POS) operators who over-charged customers for transactions.
He said the apex bank has observed panic mop-up of notes by politicians and storing them for political purposes adding that some Nigerians are capitalising on the transition to charge exorbitant fees or demand cash payment on the false pretext that PoSs don’t work, especially at petrol stations.
According to him, these selfish actions for personal monetary gain are creating hardship for Nigerians and may come at the expense of fellow citizens lives and livelihood.
He reiterated the bank’s commitment to availability of an appropriate amount of currency (redesigned N200, N500, and N1,000 denominations and current N100, N50, N20, N10 and N5 denominations) to support economic activities.
He said CBN is collaborating with the entire financial ecosystem DMBs, OFIs, MMOs, Super Agents, MFBs Payment System Providers and EFCC, ICPC and other law enforcement to ensure that Nigerians have a variety of options for financial transactions either through electronic channels or in exceptional circumstances cash.
