Representatives call on CBN to print more new naira notes and start phasing out old notes

The Nigerian House of Representatives has asked the Central Bank of Nigeria to sensitize the public on the non-legal tender status of the old Naira notes from 2025 onwards.

It directs the apex bank to print more new naira notes and begin phasing out the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes from circulation before the December 31, 2024 deadline.

The ugly memories of hardship, frustration, controversy and chaos created in the wake of a currency change in 2023 remain fresh in the minds of many Nigerians.

A Supreme Court ruling indicates that the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes will cease to be legal tender, a medium of exchange for goods and services in Nigeria, and will also cease to be in circulation from 1 of January 2025.

With less than seventy days to the end of the year, the Member for Anambra State, Afam Ogene, has moved a national emergency motion before the House on the need for the Central Bank of Nigeria to begin public sensitization .

He wants new N200, N500 and N1000 naira notes to be printed and circulated to prevent a repeat of the confusion that led to distress, loss of life and property last year.

The lawmaker says it is high time the CBN started sensitization of the public to avoid another round of chaos.

Allegations of unequal employment and extra-budgetary spending hang from the heads of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC and the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Company, NDIC and the House has launched an investigation.

The House wants the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, to place public tertiary institutions on the service-based tariff, SBT, band C or below.

For more effective transportation, the House wants the Federal Government to make adequate budgetary provision for the rehabilitation of the Zaria-Funtua, Gusau-Kauran Namoda railway lines in the 2025 budget estimates.