New naira: Emefiele claims he has talked with banks to make old N200 available.

According to Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, he has met with commercial banks and given them instructions on how to make the old N200 naira notes available to Citizens.

Emefiele made this statement to journalists in a video clip that was just shared on the CBN’s official Twitter account following his meeting with the president, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (Retd), in the presidential villa on Thursday morning. The CBN governor responded that he had met with 15 banks after the broadcast to plan the implementation when asked what Nigerians may anticipate from the CBN in response to the president’s order.

Buhari earlier on Thursday declared that the country no longer recognized the old N500 and N1,000 banknotes as legal cash.

The president urged Nigerians to deposit their old N500 and 1000 notes with the CBN, but added that the old N200 note would remain legal tender for the next 60 days, or until April 10, 2023.

In response, Emefiele stated, “The President has issued his directions; I met with approximately 15 banks this morning and provided them with directives on how they should make the old N200 notes available.”

He implied that he was acting on the orders of the president and Attorney General of the Federation Abubakar Malami in criticizing the Supreme Court for upholding the legality of the old N1,000, N500, and N200 notes.

Malami had requested that the Supreme Court reject a lawsuit contesting the Central Bank of Nigeria’s naira redesign policy.

“The fact is this, we are all servants, we are serving the Nigerians,” Emefiele continued to the journalists. “As far as I am concerned, the Attorney General of the Federation has spoken on this matter and the President has sealed up the entire of the issue in his broadcast this morning.”

The governor of the CBN further urged Nigerians to support the strategy because it will eventually be in their best interests.

I can only implore Nigerians to support the implementation of this program, he continued. This strategy tries to address the issues of corruption and illicit financial flows, as well as some economic issues and instability in the nation.

“These three issues, which make up this administration’s policy’s tripod, are all ingrained in this policy; we should let it operate as intended.

There may be some short-term discomfort, but I can promise Nigerians that the long-term benefits would outweigh any inconveniences, so we should just let it work.