The 36 state governors in the country have invited the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emiefele, to a virtual meeting on Thursday over issues on the newly redesigned banknotes introduced by the apex bank.
The Head, Media and Public Affairs of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, who made this disclosure in a statement issued on Tuesday, hinted the planned meeting will kick off by 9 pm.
He stated: “Issuing the invitation, the Nigeria Governors Forum Director-General, Mr Asishana Bayo Okauru, said the agenda is on the recent CBN policy of redesigning the Naira Notes.”
According to the NGF’s media lead, the agenda for the proposed virtual meeting is “The Economic and Security implications of Naira redesign and withdrawal policy.”
Barkindo further clarified that the “discussion promises to foster participation and dialogue between various stakeholders, including governments and civil society organizations to come out with a solution to the lingering issue.
Recall that the apex bank had announced the Naira notes’ redesign initiative on October 26, 2022 and sets the deadline for the full withdrawal of the old banknotes as January 31, 2023.
Since the introduction of the policy, the implementation of the policy has been characterized by stakeholders’ concerns across the broad spectrum of the political economic space as many that the deadline is not feasible.
Despite the agitations for a shift in the January 31 deadline by most analysts, the CBN has maintained its stance on immutability of the date.
However, the apex bank has continued to enlighten the public on how bank customers should deposit the old notes and withdraw the new N200, N500 and N1,000 notes from their banks.
