Senate asks the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to move the deadline for the exchange of old Naira Notes to May 31, 2023.
Recall that CBN had earlier announced that Naira would seize to be a legal tender as of January 31.
However, Senate in December passed a resolution urging the CBN to extend the deadline to May 31.
Also, the Senate urged the Central Bank of Nigeria to open an exchange window where people that don’t have bank accounts deposit their old notes.
The resolution of the Senate was a sequel to a motion by Senator Sadiq Umar, APC, Kwara North.
The Senator lamented that there were not enough new naira notes in circulation and as such, moved that the date should be extended to July 31.
He said: “Experiences around the world have shown that such abrupt decisions if not controlled usually created chaos.
Furthermore, most senators threw their weight behind the demand for the extension citing scarcity of the new notes both in the banks and at the various Automated Teller Machine points across the country.
In addition, Senator Adamu Aliero of PDP, Kebbi Central said that the policy would inflict untold hardship on people living in the rural areas, stating that The CBN governor should be invited.
Also, Senator Biodun Olujimi who is in PDP too, representing Ekiti South decried that in her local government area, about 90 percent of the people have not seen a glimpse of the new naira notes.
Therefore, the apex bank in Nigeria should extend the initial deadline.
Asides from Senator Sam Egwu, PDP-Ebonyi North, other senators supported the motion.
The Senator representing Ebonyi North stated that “Nigerians do not have the culture of keeping their money in the bank. It is in Nigeria where cash is used arbitrarily; other countries use electronic means. Nigerians are just averse to change.”
The Senate President, Senator Ahmed Lawani noted that most senatorial districts do not have banks, and in rural Nigeria, there are no banks and people transact businesses with cash more often.
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