Churches, schools demand new Naira notes as offering and payment, Emefiele shuns Reps

As the January 31 deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria for the phasing out of the old N1,000, N500 and N200 notes approaches, some mega-churches, schools and retailers have set earlier time limits for the collection of the old currencies.

This is due to the shortage of old naira notes and banks shutting down their Automated Teller Machines in certain areas.

However, this move is intended to save these organizations from the burden and challenges of exchanging old notes for new ones.

For example, the RCCG, a leading Pentecostal church, directed its leaders to stop collecting the old notes on January 29, 2023, two days before the CBN’s deadline. This is the same with Deeper Christian Life Ministry and several other churches.

It appears that the management of some primary and secondary schools has stopped accepting old notes and has sent notices to parents advising them to deposit only new notes in any cash transactions with their school.

Additionally, the House of Representatives has shelved its plan to go on break for the presidential and National Assembly elections due to the failure of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele, to appear before them.

The Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, has declared that he will issue a warrant of arrest for Emefiele after he fails to answer the summons. The House had set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the scarcity of new naira notes, but the CBN was not represented at the hearing.

The committee will report back to the Speaker on the absence.

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