Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), stated that Point of Sale (PoS) agents who charge more than N200 for the CBN cash swap program will be arrested and imprisoned if they are detected.
Tuesday, during a visit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to explain the bank’s monetary and currency reform policies, Emefiele made this statement.
He stated, “Since the introduction of over-the-counter payments to supplement ATM disbursements and the employment of super-agents, the situation has much improved.
Therefore, there is no need to consider a change to the February 10 deadline.
The Supreme Court prevented the federal government from executing the deadline of February 10 for the currency swap.
In a unanimous judgement, a seven-member panel of the supreme court led by Justice John Okoro issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the Federal Government, the Central Bank of Nigeria, and commercial banks from enforcing the Friday termination date for the old naira notes.
Additionally, the International Monetary Fund advised the CBN last week to extend the February 10 deadline for exchanging old naira notes for redesigned ones.
In light of the difficulties encountered by Nigerians across the country during the banknote swap procedure, the IMF provided the advice.
In a statement, the IMF said, “In light of hardships caused by disruptions to trade and payments due to the shortage of new banknotes available to the public, despite measures introduced by the CBN to mitigate the challenges in the banknote swap process, the IMF urges the CBN to consider extending the deadline if problems persist in the days leading up to the February 10, 2023 deadline.”
