Breaking! New Naira notes: Emefiele finally appears before Reps

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, is currently before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee, to answer questions on the currency redesign and naira swap policy.

Emefiele had ignored previous invitations from the lawmakers, prompting them to threaten to issue a warrant of arrest against him.

On Thursday, Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the house, said he will issue a warrant to the inspector-general of police (IGP) to compel the attendance of the CBN governor to respond to the summon of the house on Tuesday (today).

Emefiele is currently before the lawmakers in the company of top officials of the CBN, including Kingsley Obiora, deputy governor, economic policy directorate.

After sustained public outcry and criticism from key stakeholders, the CBN on Sunday extended the deadline for the swap of old naira notes at commercial banks by 10 days.

Announcing the development after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, the CBN governor said the new deadline is February 10, 2023.

However, Nigerians will still be able to deposit their old notes directly with the CBN until February 17, 2023, described as a “grace period”.

Nigerians had been complaining about the inability to swap their old notes for the new designs as the January 31 deadline loomed.

The naira redesign is believed to be targeted at stopping vote buying in the 2023 general election scheduled for February 25 and March 11.