President Muhammadu Buhari has extended the deadline for depositing of old naira notes to get the new ones by seven days.
This comes after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) requested for the extension. The apex’s bank governor, Godwin Emefiele, explained that the CBN sought approval from Buhari to extend the deadline for the use of the old notes by 10 days.
“Based on the foregoing, we have sought and obtained Mr President’s approval for the following: A 10-day extension of the deadline from January 31 to February 10 to allow for the collection of more old notes legitimately held by Nigerians,” the statement read.
“A 7-day grace period, beginning from February 10 to February 17, in compliance with Sections 20(3) and 22 of the CBN Act allowing Nigerians to deposit their old notes at the CBN after the February deadline when the old currency would have lost its Legal Tender Status.”
The president also gave approval to enable Nigerians to deposit their old notes at the CBN after the February deadline when the old currency would have lost its Legal Tender status.
This followed the President’s meeting with Emefiele, in his country home in Daura, Katsina State on Sunday.
Emefiele briefed correspondents after the meeting, revealing that 75 percent of the N2.7 trillion held outside the banking system has been recovered.
