The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has issued an invitation
to Godwin Emefiele, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, for a virtual
meeting on the recent naira redesign and cash withdrawal limit policies.
Asishana Okauru, director-general of NGF, said the meeting
is scheduled to hold on Thursday, January 19, 2022, at 9 pm.
The theme, ‘the economic and security implications of naira
redesign and withdrawal policy’, will drive discussions at the virtual meeting.
Okauru said the invitation to the CBN governor was issued by
Aminu Tambuwal, chairman of the forum and governor of Sokoto.
He said the meeting would foster participation and dialogue
between various stakeholders, including governments and civil society
organisations, and enable them to proffer solutions to the lingering issues
regarding the policies.
In October last year, Emefiele had announced the plan to
redesign the biggest denominations of the country’s currency to control money
supply and aid security agencies in tackling illicit financial flows.
The governor had said the new notes (N200, N500 and N1000)
will be effective from mid-December 2022, advising customers to deposit their
old notes before January 31, 2023, when they will become illegal tender.
Reaction to the currency redesign came with copious
backlash, as banks began to dispense the redesigned notes on December 15, 2022.
In the same month, the CBN directed deposit money banks and
other financial institutions to ensure that over-the-counter cash withdrawals
by individuals and corporate entities per week do not exceed N100,000 and N500,
000, respectively.
However, following mixed reactions from Nigerians, the apex
bank increased the maximum weekly limit for cash withdrawals across all
channels by individuals and corporate organisations to N500,000 and N5 million
respectively.
According to the CBN, the aim is to boost the cashless
policy and reduce the amount of cash outside the banking system.
The cash withdrawal policy commenced on Monday, January
9, 2023.
Two weeks ago, the CBN also ordered banks to halt dispensing
the new currency notes over the counter, but only make them available via
automated teller machines (ATMs).
The CBN further threatened to penalise commercial banks who
fail to comply with the directive of loading the redesigned naira notes in
their ATMs.
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