The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has guaranteed that the new naira notes would reach every corner of the nation by the deadline of January 31, 2023.
Many stakeholders have requested the CBN to extend the January 31 to June 30, 2023 timeframe for the phase-out of the old N1,000, N500, and N200 notes, but the central bank has stuck to its guns on the matter.
The CBN Acting Branch Controller in Ondo State, Mr. Giwa Ademola, stated that the goal of the sensitization was to educate the public on the newly redesigned naira notes while speaking to market men and women at the event on Wednesday at the Oja Oba Market in Akure, the capital of Ondo State.
Ademola added that the event was also organised to inform them on the need to deposit the old notes before the deadline.
He said: “The benefits of the currency redesign to the Nigerian economy are enormous given that this policy will help to control inflation, as the exercise will bring the hoarded currency into the banking system, thereby making monetary policy more effective.
“It will also help with better design and implementation of monetary policy as we will have much more accurate data on money supply and monetary aggregates.
“Statistics show that N2.72 trillion out of the $3.26 trillion currency in circulation as of June 2022 was outside the vaults of commercial banks across the country, and supposedly held by members of the public. This statistic shows that 84.71 per cent of currency in circulation are outside the vaults of commercial banks, with only 15.29 per cent in the central bank and commercial banks’ vaults.
“We believe that this exercise will help in increasing financial inclusion, moving towards a more cashless economy, and ensuring greater formalisation of the Nigerian economy.
“The currency redesign will assist in the fight against corruption as the exercise will rein in the higher denomination used for corruption, and the movement of such funds from the banking system can be tracked easily.”
There is no cap on the amount that a client may deposit between now and January 31, 2023, thus the CBN governor asked Nigerians to make sure that they deposit cash with them at their commercial banks.
Ademola cautioned the general population to investigate other payment channels for their economic operations, such as eNaira, the Point of Sales, electronic transfer, the USSD, Internet banking, and mobile money providers and agents.
