Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says the new naira notes have already been disbursed to the various commercial banks and expects that the banks would begin distribution to the public.

Emefiele disclosed this on Thursday following his visit to President Muhammadu Buhari in Daura, Katsina State.

Recall that the National Assembly had earlier faulted the CBN’s unveiling of revised cash withdrawal limits with a maximum of N100,000 for individuals and N500,000 for companies, claiming that it might worsen the current economic situation.

But while reacting to the objections from the National Assembly and the public outcry over the cash withdrawal policy, Emefiele told newsmen that the limitation was not intended to hurt anyone.

“And we think Nigeria, as the biggest economy in Africa, needs to leapfrog into the cashless economy.

“We cannot continue to allow a situation where over 85 per cent of the cash that is in circulation is outside the bank. More and more countries that are embracing digitisation have gone cashless,” he said.

He added that there would be no rigidity on the policy and no reversal, appealing to Nigerians to embrace the new policy.