Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, on Tuesday, finally appeared before the House of Representatives Committee investigating the Naira redesign project, after weeks of playing hide and seek with the National Assembly amid threat of arrest.
Emefiele appeared before the House Committee at about 12:30 and went straight into a closed-door meeting with the principal officers of the House.
The lawmakers had summoned Emefiele over the crisis caused by the redesign of some Naira notes and the difficulty Nigerians have been facing in exchanging the old notes with new ones.
The Ad-hoc Committee headed by Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, was set up by the House to intervene in the crisis.
But for weeks, Emefiele had given different excuses why he could not appear before it.
His posture led to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, threatening
to mandate the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, to arrest and force the CBN governor to appear before the panel, insisting that the deadline breached the provision of Section 20(3) of the CBN Act.
“I have no choice now. On Tuesday when we resume, we will invoke the provisions of Section 89 of the Constitution.
“The President has been very clear. The President gave the approval based on what he knows and what he has been told.
“So, on Tuesday, this House will follow its procedure, the normal procedure, and invoke the provisions of Section 89 to compel the governor of the CBN and the directors,” Gbajabiamila had said.
Meanwhile, Emefiele gave the assurance that Nigerians would not lose the old notes after the February 10 extended deadline.
He said while the old notes cease to be legal tenders after the expiration of the deadline, Nigerians can still take them to the bank in exchange for new notes, or deposit the old notes in their accounts.
Section 20(3) of the CBN Act, 2007 provides that the Apex Bank should continue to accept the old notes until they are phased out of circulation.
He said the CBN stands with the position of the House of Representatives on the provisions of section 20(3) of the CBN Act, assuring Nigerians they will not lose their money.
“You will not lose your money even when it loses its legal tender. You can take it to the bank, pay it into your account. But we should please allow this policy to succeed.”
He, however, said that the apex bank was aware of the pains Nigerians were going through but assured that they were doing everything possible to address them.