The cbn Governor Godwin Emefiele on sunday 29th January 2023,declared that the deadline for the exchange of old naira notes,has been extended to February 10th 2023.

Emefiele said,  “Based on the foregoing, we have sought and obtained Mr President’s approval for the following: a 10-day extension of the deadline from January 31, 2023, to February 10, 2023; to allow for collection of more old notes legitimately held by  Nigerians and  achieve more success in cash swap in our rural communities after which all old notes outside the CBN loses their Legal Tender Status.

Nigerians have been criticizing the deadline initially fixed by the cbn,owing to the minute circulation of the new naira notes.

In some states like Kano,Lagos and Kaduna,it was reported that there have been massive trade of new naira by some opporturnisitc traders,who hoarded the new naira.

In some areas,old naira notes were being traded for a ten percent profit,for example, a customer who has ten thousand naira old notes, is forced to pay eleven thousand naira to obtain the new notes

In some organizations like filling stations and stores ,old naira notes attract five percent fee for exchange.

It is expected that Nigerians will utilize this grace period, to exchange their old N200,500,1000 notes at the banks.