The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said it will not extend or shift the deadline for the deposit of the old naira notes.

CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele said this on Tuesday as he apologized to Nigerians for not extending the deadline.

He stated that 100 days from when the announcement was made to the expiration date was enough for Nigerians to deposit their old notes.

He assured Nigerians that the ongoing sensitization will continue after the 31st of January, 2023 deadline.

The apex bank said it has received between N1.3 trillion to N1.5 trillion so far but expects it will recover over N2 trillion after January 31 deadline.

Speaking to journalists at the end of the first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in Abuja on Tuesday, Emefiele also disclosed that the Committee has decided to aggressively increase the interest rate to 17.5 percent.

Emefiele noted that despite the drop in inflation in December to 21.34 percent there was “no reason to celebrate”.