The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele has declared that there would be no extension of deadline for the collection of old Naira Notes.
Emefiele who announced this while briefing newsmen shortly after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on Tuesday in Abuja says, the January 31,2023 deadline stands.
“I don’t have good news for those who feel we should shift the deadline; my apologies.
“The reason is because 100 days should be enough for those who have the old currency to deposit it in the banks…
“There is no reason why currency in circulation will grow from N1.4 trillion to N3.2 trillion in seven years.
“People are hoarding it, people are keeping vaults in their homes. We cannot allow them to be banks in their homes; they don’t have the license to build bank vaults in their homes.
“They should release that money back to CBN because what they are doing is that they are undermining monetary policy. They are keeping it and speculating against our currency and it is making our work difficult in CBN,” Emefiele said.
The apex bank governor said, reports had it that the introduction of three redesigned naira notes: N200, N500 and N1000 has reduced kidnapping and ransom-taking in the country.
“Truly speaking, at the margin, I may be wrong, I think kidnapping and ransom-taking have somehow reduced. Security agents are doing a fantastic job.
“I think it (naira redesign) has slowed those people down because they know that if they collect old notes, nobody is going to collect it from them. So, it might as well as think of other ways.”
On allegation of stolen stamp duty, Emefiele said, the
total revenue collected as stamp duty on behalf of the Federal Government in 6 years, between 2016 and 2022, was N370.686 billion.
He said, the CBN was not withholding any N89 trillion as being alleged, disclosing that the “total assets of all banks are N71 trillion; total deposit in banks is N44 trillion”.
He said, “From 2016 till date, stamp duty collection has amounted to N370,686 billion.
“The Federal Inland Revenue Service has disbursed N226.451 billion of the money to the Federation Account Allocation Committee, while the balance of N144,235 is in the CBN.
“The highest collection of the stamp is N71 billion, collected by First Bank”, the governor clarified.
