The Senate have requested that the deadline be extended to July 31, but the House of Representatives disagreed and suggested it should extend no later than June.
But yesterday, the governor of the CBN said that he would not extend his deadline for ending currency controls.
The Senate urged the Central Bank of Nigeria to open an exchange window, so that people without bank accounts could deposit their old currency notes.
Senator Sadiq Umar, APC, Kwara North sponsored the Senate resolution that called for an extension of CBN's deadline until July 31. Senator Umar said he was worried about the Central Bank's insistence on not granting any extensions after June 30th.
In October, CBN had announced that the old naira notes would cease to be legal tender on January 31. However, in December, the Senate passed a resolution urging and prompting the apex bank to extend the deadline until June 30.
Senator Umar recalled the Senate's resolution on December 28, 2022, urging the Central Bank of Nigeria to extend use of old notes from January 31st to June 30th. In its own resolution a week later on Jan 4, 2023, the apex bank insisted that it would terminate all new naira bills by end of this month (Jan).
Senator Umar, who was frustrated that there weren’t enough new naira notes in circulation and who wanted the deadline extended to July 31, made his case at length.
He said: “Experiences around the world have shown that such abrupt decisions, if not controlled, usually created chaos. The Senate should extend the use of the old notes to July 31.”
The majority of senators favored extending the new notes’ expiration date, citing a lack of these bills both in banks and ATMs across the country as a major cause for concern.
In supporting the motion, Senator Ibrahim Hadejia (APC-Jigawa North East) said that lawmakers' calls for extension were for their constituents and not to benefit themselves personally.
He said: “ In my constituency, no Automated Teller Machine, ATM, is dispensing the new notes.”.
Senator Adamu Aliero, a PDP representative from Kebbi Central, said the policy would inflict untold hardship on people living in rural areas and insisted that Governor Emefiele be invited to appear before the Senate.
Senator Bulkachuwa, a PDP senator from Bauchi North, said that the extensions were necessary to avoid chaos.
In her contribution, Senator Biodun Olujimi , PDP , Ekiti South, lamented that in her local government area about 90 percent of the people had not seen the new naira notes. She called on the central bank to “look away from elections” and focus more on distributing its resources evenly among all areas regardless of their political leanings.
She warned that failure to extend the date would cause an economic downturn.
Senator Ali Ndume, APC, Borno South, urged the Senate to use its oversight authority over the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to order that institution’s governor extend the deadline for currency exchange.
He said that the power of the Senate should not be underestimated and urged senators to remain strong in their demand for an extension.
For Senator Sam Egwu, PDP-Ebonyi North, who was the only senator that opposed the motion: "Nigerians do not have the culture of keeping their money in banks. It's a common practice here to keep cash on hand even though other countries use electronic means."
Senator Ahmad Lawan, the President of the Senate, noted that most senatorial districts did not have banks.
He said: “In rural Nigeria, there are no banks and people transact businesses with cash more often. There is no doubt that we must have a window for exchange. We must have policies by the CBN to have bank branches established in rural areas. We need this extension for most ordinary Nigerians.”
In conclusion, Senator Lawan made a motion to put the prayers in the Senate's consideration. The lawmakers then voted on supporting an extension of January 31 (the deadline) until July 31.