The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN Governor, Goodwin Emefiele has ruled out the possibility of extending the 10-day grace for the old Naira notes to remain in circulation.
He appealed to Nigerians to endure the pains emanating from difficulties in getting the newly redesigned Naira notes from financial institutions.
The governor who made the appeal on Friday during a press conference in Lagos said the pain is temporary, stressing that cash will be available in no distant time.
He said the leadership of the apex bank had appealed to commercial banks to manage the situation properly while the cash circulates.
He said, “On the clamour by people to move the deadline by one more year or if we are open to further extension of the deadline. I would say no.
“I’m sure that people are going to say that only last week Tuesday, I said no, but I want to say unfortunately again, this time, we will not be looking at an extension of deadlines.
“We do see that there will be some transient or temporary pains. But I will appeal, we are begging, we are on our knees begging people to please show understanding they should be calm”.
It was reported that angry Nigerians on Friday staged protests in some parts of the country, lamenting the scarcity of the new Naira notes.