Godwin Emefiele, the CBN’s governor, is appearing before the House of Representatives’ special committee looking into the scarcity of fresh naira notes.
Speaking to the committee, Mr. Emefiele said that he had been out of the country and had therefore been unable to accept earlier invitations.
He stated that the CBN’s activities on the redesign of the naira were in accordance with global best practices and that the apex bank must have control over the currency in circulation.
According to Mr. Emefiele, the amount of money in circulation was N1.4 trillion in 2015 and N3.33 trillion in 2016.
He explained that the purpose of directing banks to guarantee that only ATM withdrawals were permitted was to restrict the amount that any one person may withdraw daily.
The CBN governor lamented the trend of new notes being seen at parties and claimed that he was working with commercial banks to address it.
The 61-year-old acknowledged that the measures would affect some people, but insisted that they were in the best interests of the country, particularly in battling instability.
Emefiele had ignored earlier requests to appear before the Lawmakers, despite stating in a number of letters that he was on an important assignment in the United States.
The apex bank set the 31 January deadline for the use of the old notes in November. However it was later extended to till February 10.
