Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has said the Green Chamber would have no option but to reconvene before the presidential and National Assembly elections on February 25 if the Central Bank of Nigeria failed to address the hardship Nigerians face due to its currency swap policy.
Gbajabiamila noted that the House would continue to closely monitor the CBN’s implementation of the policy, following the Green Chamber’s meeting with the governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, on the issue.
A statement issued on Sunday by the Special Adviser to the Speaker on Media and Publicity, Lanre Lasisi, quoted Gbajabiamila to have made this known at a town hall meeting with some ethnic groups in Surulere, Lagos.
The statement was titled ‘Currency Swap: We’ll Reconvene Before Elections If… – Gbajabiamila…says Tinubu stands with Nigerians.’
Emefiele had finally appeared before the House on Tuesday last week over the crisis caused by the redesign of some naira notes and the exchange of old naira notes with new ones by the populace.
The CBN governor had appeared before the House’s Ad Hoc Committee on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Cashless Policy and Extend the Timeframe of the Currency Swap, where he said the apex bank hopes that the naira would get stronger with the implementation of the policy.
Emefiele had partly said, “Subject to the content of the CBN Act, Section 20(3), which says even after the old currency has lost its legal tender status; that we are mandated to collect those monies, I stand with the House of Representatives on this.
“What does that mean? It could have lost its legal tender status, in which case we have moved on, but you have your money that you have not been able to send to the bank.
“We certainly will give you the opportunity to bring them back into the CBN; you will redeem it, either you pay into your bank account or you want to do (an) exchange, you will not lose your money.
