Buhari meets Emefiele — hours after supreme court order on old notes’ deadline

 President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday met with Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), at the presidential villa.

 

The meeting comes hours after the supreme court temporarily restrained the federal government from banning the use of the old naira notes from February 10.

 

A seven-man panel of the apex court led by John Okoro, a justice, granted the interim injunction after an ex parte application filed by the governors of Kogi, Kaduna and Zamfara states.

 

The outcome of the meeting is yet to be known but it is understood that the visit by the CBN chief is in connection to the supreme court ruling.

 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) asked the CBN to consider extending the February 10 deadline.

 

The Bretton Woods institution gave the advice in the wake of the difficulties faced by Nigerians across the country over the banknote swap process.

 

“In light of hardships caused by disruptions to trade and payments due to the shortage of new bank notes available to the public, in spite of measures introduced by the CBN to mitigate the challenges in the banknote swap process, the IMF encourages the CBN to consider extending the deadline should problems persist in the next few days leading up to the February 10, 2023, deadline,” the IMF had said.