By Muhammad Sabiu
The Nigerian Senate has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to extend the window for exchanging old Naira bills from January 31 to May 31, 2023.
Sen. Sadiq Umar of the APC from Kwara North originally moved for an extension until July 31 because he was concerned about the apex bank’s insistence that there would be no such extension.
Recall that the CBN declared in October of last year that the old naira notes will no longer be accepted as legal money as of January 31.
However in December, the Senate approved a resolution asking the CBN to extend the deadline to June 30.
Umar introduced the motion, saying that the Senate had asked that the CBN extend the use of the old notes from January 31 to June 30, 2022, but the central bank had insisted on the January deadline.
Lamenting the situation, the lawmakers noted that there aren’t enough fresh naira notes in circulation.
He was quoted as saying: “Experiences around the world have shown that such abrupt decision if not controlled usually created chaos.
“The Senate should extend the use of the old notes to July 31,” he said.
Also lamenting is Sen. Biodun Olujimi (PDP-Ekiti) who urged the apex bank to “look away from the elections” after noting that 90% of people in her local government area have not even set their eyes on the new naira notes.
