Nigeria Extends Deadline for Returning Soon-to-Be Demonetized Naira Banknotes

After initially ignoring pleas to widen the play for returning aged naira banknotes, the Nigerian cardinal slope precocious said it has shifted the deadline for returning aged banknotes to Feb. 10. The bank’s governor, Godwin Emefiele, said immoderate 30,000 alleged ace agents person been deployed nationwide to assistance with the cash-swapping process.

CBN Governor Says Currency Swapping Exercise Has Been a Success

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) precocious said it had extended the deadline for returning the aged naira banknotes by 10 much days. In his Jan. 29 press statement, CBN politician Godwin Emefiele said portion the workout has been a success, shifting the deadline day from Jan. 31 to Feb. 10 helps the slope execute occurrence successful agrarian communities.

The announcement follows weeks of pleas by residents who wanted to beryllium granted much clip to instrumentality the soon-to-be demonetized naira banknotes. The announcement of the hold besides came conscionable a fewer days aft a Bitcoin.com News report suggested that immoderate Nigerian banks were inactive distributing the aged notes.

To guarantee the CBN’s objectives are achieved earlier the aged banknotes are removed from circulation, Emefiele said the cardinal bank’s unit on with their counterparts from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) were mobilizing and monitoring the process. In addition, the politician said immoderate 30,000 alleged ace agents had been deployed nationwide to assistance with the cash-swapping process successful regions underserved by banks.

CBN Targets Rural Communities

Commenting connected the cardinal bank’s occurrence truthful far, Emefiele said:

We are blessed that truthful far, the workout has achieved a occurrence complaint of implicit 75% of the N2.7 trillion [$5.86 billion] held extracurricular the banking system.

The politician besides said it aimed to springiness residents with genuinely earned wealth an accidental to deposit their legitimately trapped monies astatine the CBN for exchange.

Meanwhile, successful his statement, Emefiele, who has been accused of funding terrorists, insisted the cardinal bank’s extremity is not lone to heighten the effectiveness of its monetary argumentation but to assistance Nigerian information agencies successful their combat against bandits and kidnappers. By demonetizing the aged banknotes, the CBN volition beryllium sticking to its mandate of redesigning its currency each 5 to 8 years, Emefiele added.

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