New naira: CBN insists on deadline, arrests hawkers

The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has said law enforcement agencies have made arrests of new naira note hawkers.

While speaking during a press briefing in Lagos on Friday, he maintained the apex bank’s decision on the deadline to phase out the old naira notes.

Emefiele said, “As the new deadlines approach, please permit me to express our sadness over the unscrupulous and unpatriotic conduct of some of our colleagues in the banking industry, whose greed and malevolence are sabotaging the CBN’s efforts. I assure you all that the enforcement agencies are on the prowl for these unpatriotic colleagues and their collaborators.

“A few of them involved in the sale of the new currency have been arrested by EFCC, ICPC and indeed the DSS; and let me assure all Nigerians that these unscrupulous persons shall face the full wrath of the law.