The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, warned that Point‑of‑Sale agents who charge more than N200 for the CBN cash‑swap programme will be arrested and jailed if caught. He made the statement on Tuesday during a visit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he discussed the bank’s monetary policy and the currency redesign.
Emefiele noted that the situation has been “substantially calming down” since the introduction of over‑the‑counter payments to complement ATM disbursements and the use of super‑agents. Consequently, he said there is no need to consider any shift from the February 10 deadline.
Earlier reports indicated that the Supreme Court had restrained the Federal Government from enforcing the February 10 deadline for the currency swap. A seven‑member panel of the apex court, led by Justice John Okoro, issued a unanimous interim injunction preventing the Federal Government, the Central Bank of Nigeria, and commercial banks from implementing the Friday terminal date for the old naira notes.
In addition, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last week advised the CBN to extend the February 10 deadline for swapping old naira notes with the redesigned ones. The IMF’s counsel came in response to the challenges Nigerians face across the country during the banknote‑swap process. In a statement, the IMF said that, “in light of hardships caused by disruptions to trade and payments due to the shortage of new banknotes available to the public, despite measures introduced by the CBN to mitigate the challenges, the IMF encourages the CBN to consider extending the deadline should problems persist in the next few days leading up to the February 10, 2023 deadline.”
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