The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has insisted that there is no plan to extend the deadline for the use of old notes.
At a media briefing on Friday, CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele said that the regulatory bank and Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) were working to address the current challenges with the circulation of the new notes.
He said: “I want to say unfortunately again, this time, we will not be looking at an extension of deadline because we at the Central Bank and the Deposit Money Banks are doing everything to address the challenges”.
While appearing before the House of Representatives Adhoc Committee on the Naira Redesign and Naira Swap Policy on Tuesday, Emefiele allayed the fears that the old Naira notes would no longer be tenable after the expiration of the 10 February deadline for the Naira swap policy, pledging to adhere to sections 20 sub 3, 4,5 of the CBN Act.
In Enugu, the Police arrested two male suspects for allegedly possessing, transacting, and selling counterfeited redesigned N1,000 notes within a council area in the state.
The suspects were said to be in possession of counterfeited 180 pieces of the newly-redesigned N1,000 notes, with a face value of N180,000.
According to a statement on Friday by the Command’s spokesman, Deputy Superintendent of Police Daniel Ndukwe, the feat was achieved when police officers serving in the Igbo-Eze South Division of the Command acted on credible information on Thirsday at about 9:05 pm.
He said that the police officers arrested Joseph Chinenye, 39, and Onyeka Ezeja, 29, both male, and respectively of Iheakpu-Awka in the Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area (LGA) and Onicha village in the Enugu-Ezike in Igbo-Eze North LGA.
“Preliminary investigation shows, among other things, that the naira notes, which are in three separate batches, bear the same serial numbers of A/34:282656, A/46:578759, and 8/93:852942.
“The suspects claimed to have secured the counterfeited naira notes from an unidentified woman in Benin City, Edo State.
“In addition, they confessed to attempting to sell the naira notes to a Point of Sale operator, who rejected them.
“They were, however, arrested by police operatives at a filling station in the Ibagwa-Aka community of Igbo-Eze South LGA, where they used the naira notes to purchase petrol”, the Police spokesman said.
Ndukwe said the duo would be arraigned in court upon consolidation and conclusion of investigation into the case by the State Criminal Investigation Department, Enugu.
He said the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Ahmed Ammani had reassured of the commitment of the police to fish out and bring to book criminal elements hell-bent on perpetrating such acts of economic sabotage.
The police spokesman said that the Commissioner also urged all and sundry to support the police in its quest to deal with criminality and criminal elements.
“I want the good people of Enugu State to be vigilant and wary of who or how they obtain and carry out transactions with naira notes, especially the new naira notes”, he added.
