The Senate and the House of Representatives has again called for the extension of the deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as the expiration date for the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes.

Correspondent, Raliat Adenekan and Nathan Williams reports that the 2 legislative chambers of the national assembly urged the President to intervene and prevail on the apex bank to extend the deadline by 6 months.

Following a motion moved by Senator Suleiman Sodiq of Kwara North, the Senate insisted that the new notes were not enough in circulation, while giving a warning of imminent chaos should the deadline was not extended.

The Green chamber also noted that the policy must not be overbearing on Nigerians if it is going to be successful.

Meanwhile, the House has set up an adhoc committee to meet with the Managing Directors of Commercial Banks and the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele over complaints of shortage of the new notes.

Earlier, the CBN had insisted that it would not be extending the January 31st deadline for the deposit of old naira notes.

CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele after yesterday’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting, reiterated President Buhari’s stance that the 100-day window is adequate time for Nigerians to deposit their old notes in exchange for new notes, and the new currency notes are available for banks to pick up.

Reading the communique from the monetary policy committee meeting, Emefiele disclosed that the MPC raised the benchmark interest rate by 100 basis points to 17.5 %, maintained the asymmetric corridor at +100 /- 700 basis points around the MPR, while it retained CRR at 32.5% and liquidity ratio is kept at 30%.