The Central Bank of Nigeria has mainained that there is no going back on the January 31 deadline for the old 200, 500 and 1,000 naira notes, as they will cease to be legal tender in the country starting from that date.

Godwin Emefiele, the CBN Governor, who reiterated the apex bank’s stance after the Monetary Policy Committee meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, said enough time had been given to Nigerians to swap their old naira notes for new ones.

Meanwhile, Managing Directors/Chief Executive Officers of banks, under the auspices of the Bankers’ Committee, have been scheduled to meet with an ad hoc committee of the House to be chaired by the Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, on Wednesday (tomorrow).

Reports say the meeting is for the banks to explain the alleged supply shortage from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

It would be recalled that the CBN on October 26, 2022 announced its plan to redesign the three banknotes.

President Muhammadu Buhari also unveiled the redesigned N200, N500 and N1,000 notes on November 23, 2022.

Barely a week to the CBN deadline, NewsOrient reports that the shortage of the new naira notes is causing serious confusion. While most of the bank ATM machines are not dispensing the new notes, CBN is insisting on the January 31 deadline.