NASS, CBN battle over old naira notes’ deadline
*Extend deadline to July 31, Senate tells CBN; *Reps angry, invite banks’ CEOs, wants deadline extended to June; *Jan 31 deadline for old notes remains – Emefiele THE two arms of the National Assembly, Senate and the House of Representatives, have told the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to extend the dealine for usage of old naira notes beyond the January 31 target set by the apex bank. While the Senate asked that the deadline be extended to July 31, the lower chamber said it should be extended to June. But governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, maintained that the January 31 deadline remained sacrosanct. The Senate at plenary also urged the CBN to open an exchange window where people without bank accounts could deposit their old notes. The resolution of the Senate was sequel to a motion by Senator Sadiq Umar, APC, Kwara North, who demanded the extension to July 31, said he was worried by the insistence of the apex bank that there would be no extension. It would be recalled that CBN...