Rep: Nigerians losing money due to dilapidated old naira notes

Afam Ogene, lawmaker representing Ogbaru federal constituency in the house of representatives in Anambra, says Nigerians are losing money due to dilapidated naira notes.

Ogene was the sponsor of a motion adopted by the lower legislative chamber on Thursday which said that the deadline for old naira notes to be legal tender is December 31, 2024.

The position of the house was contrary to the decision of the supreme court which held that both old and new naira notes could co-exist “till further notice”.

In October 2022, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under Godwin Emefiele, the former governor, redesigned the N200, N500 and N1,000 notes.

The move made the naira scarce and led to unprecedented hardship in the build-up to the 2023 general election.

In a statement on Friday, the lawmaker said the apex bank should decide if the old notes should be phased out or not.

“Even with the latest development, some issues remain germaine: which country in the world runs its economy with two different sets of unidentical currency notes,” Ogene, leader of the Labour Party (LP) caucus, said.

“What was the intention of the CBN in introducing new sets of notes; was it not with an aim at eventually replacing the old sets?

“Now that the ‘politics’ that heralded the introduction of the new notes are long over, shall the country and its people continue to suffer the afflictions arising therefrom?

“For instance, it is common knowledge that some people still mistake the new N200 note for the old N10 bill. Yet, both continue to co-exist.

“Besides the issue of deadlines, who in Nigeria is not embarrassed by the stinking, dilapidated nature of currencies emanating from the vaults of our country’s commercial banks, while the CBN continues to look on, as if it is the new normal.

“Daily, citizens lose as much as between N5,000 to N10,000 for every N100,000 cashed in various banking halls, due to mutilated and torn notes.”

The lawmaker said the apex bank should not hide behind “deadline ad infinitum to shrink its responsibilities to the banking public”.