BREAKING: Buhari bows to pressure, approves extension of old Naira swap

President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday bowed to “political” pressure and approved the Central Bank of Nigeria’s request for the extension of the deadline for swapping of old Naira notes to the redesigned ones.

The new deadline is February 10th, 2023.

ALSO READ: CBN extends old naira use deadline till February 10

A seven-day grace period, beginning on February 10 to February 17, 2023, has also been approved to enable Nigerians to deposit their old notes at the CBN after the February deadline when the old currency would have lost its Legal Tender status.

The President gave the approval during a meeting with the apex bank’s governor, Godwin Emefiele, in his country home in Daura, Katsina State today.

Briefing journalists after the meeting, Emefiele stated that 75 percent of the N2.7 trillion held outside the banking system has been recovered.