Emefiele bows to pressure, appears before Reps comttee…Says banks would accept old notes after Feb. 10

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN Godwin Emefiele on Tuesday finally bowed to pressure as he appeared before the ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives on the cashless policy and deadline for the replacement of old naira notes.

The House had threatened to invoke the provisions of section 89(1)(d) of the Constitution by issuing a warrant of arrest today if he failed to appear.

The CBN Governor, who appeared in company of some of his assistants, went into a brief executive session with members of the committee.

In justifying the new policy, Emefiele told the committee that in 2015 N1.4 trillion was in circulation, and by last year it had risen to N3.33 trillion. He also explained that the reason for directing banks to ensure only Automated Teller Machines ATM withdrawals was to limit the daily withdrawal of individuals.

The CBN- boss decried the trend of the new notes being sighted at parties and stated he was in meetings with commercial banks to mitigate these.

He further admitted that the policy might hurt some persons but insists it was in the interest of the country especially in combating insecurity. He assured that even after the February 10 deadline, banks would still be receiving old notes.

Recall that Emefiele had failed to appear before the lawmakers despite initial requests detailing in a series of letters that he was in the United States on an important assignment.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, had threatened to ask the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba Alkali, to issue an arrest warrant on the CBN-boss to compel him to appear before the House.

The apex bank had in November last year fixed the 31 January deadline for the circulation of the old notes after which it loses its legal tender status. However, the scarcity of the new notes forced the House to set up an ad-hoc committee to resolve the difficulties between the CBN and commercial banks, despite the insistence of Emefiele that many of the banks were hoarding the new notes.