A face-off was afoot as the past week wore to an end between the Central Bank governor Godwin Emefiele and the House of Representatives over the January 31 deadline to phase out the old Naira bills and replace them with the new.

While asserting its sense of independence, the CBN chief has indicated that the lawmakers were treading beyond their legal limits by asking the top bank to extend the deadline of the currency change by at least six months.

We concede the independence that Mr. Emefiele has been asserting. But what the lawmakers are saying reflects concerns in cities and remote parts of the federation about the slow grind in implementing the CBN plan to mop up the old money and supplant them with the new.

The CBN governor believes that the 90-day deadline gave Nigerians, rich and poor, enough window to ensure they got rid of the old bills and came into possession of the new.

Yet, the reality cannot be escaped. The old Naira notes are still in circulation, and it is not just because Nigerians do not want to comply with the new directive. It is basically because the new bills are few and far between in not only the urban areas but also in rural reaches.

This developments and anxieties led the House of Representatives to summon the CBN governor and the managing directors of commercial banks to answer nagging questions and clarify issues for the lawmakers and Nigerians on why the matter should move out of a logjam.

But Mr. Emefiele and the bank MDs shunned the lawmakers on Wednesday January 25th and subsequently on Thursday January 26. The excuse for the Wednesday absence was that the invitation reached Emefiele’s office late. That led to a postponement to the next day. While the house was in session, the CBN chief sent in a letter that he was in Dakar as part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s delegation.

That excuse seems puerile. If the CBN governor could not attend, did he not have competent hands to stand in for him? The apex bank has a handful of directors who understand the intricacies of Emefiele’s job and they could have been asked to answer the queries of Nigerians over this matter by addressing the lawmakers’ concerns.

By law, the House of Representatives stands for the people of the country, and for whatever reasons, if the august body summons a public servant to address a public matter, it is the duty of the servant to honour it. If they cannot, they can send somebody to represent them. What Emefiele did was an act of contempt. The speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, said the CBN governor risks arrests for his disdain. He has threatened to issue a warrant of arrest to the Inspector General of Police to compel Mr. Emefiele to attend the proceedings. The House had planned to take a four-week break for members to focus on the upcoming elections. But the speaker asked the lawmakers to indulge a sense of patience until Tuesday next week.

Meanwhile, the January 31 deadline looms with an intransigent central bank. The reason it says it will not change its stand is that all banks have been asked to extend their working hours and the anti-corruption agencies, the EFCC and ICPC, have been advised not to monitor or punish persons who haul in large sums of money. They have also set up cash swap centres in local government areas across the country, especially in rural areas.

“We called on the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to extend their working hours and to work on weekends. There is no reason to talk about a shift. The new currencies are available,” said Emefiele.

Yet, we have witnessed incidents where citizens have demonstrated not just resistance to this new turn of events but also ignorance. The issue of depositing the money may be less troubling than the availability of the new currency notes.

“Our mint is producing and we are supplying the banks. We have super agents in underserved areas like riverine communities, and CBN staff members have been out on mobilization,” Emefiele noted.

But the facts on the ground contradict this assertion. It is either the CBN governor is not in control of the situation, or he is not telling us the whole truth. Sightings of the new notes tend to happen at high society gatherings and parties and they have turned the notes from the rights of the average citizens to commodities that they sell at cut-throat prices. This is unacceptable.

In an efficient atmosphere, no one should get the old currency when they go through the banking halls. Is it a case of sabotage? The CBN governor has not addressed it. Rather he implies the apex bank has enough currency in circulation. So why are Nigerians not having them?

These are the concerns that made some lawmakers, both in the House and the Senate, to call for a postponement to allow the new notes gain currency. Rather than make this an ego matter, the CBN governor should act like a civil citizen and appear on the floor of the House.

More importantly, he should take charge and make the transition between old and new a flawless affair. A stand-off with the House is not what the speaker wants, hence he keeps putting off the invitation to give Emefiele the benefit of doubt. The CBN lawmaker should also show the dignity of his institution rather than advertise the fragility of his ego.

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