The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has claimed that the continuing revamping of Naira notes, which it claims has been overdue for 12 years, has been done in accordance with the law and proper procedure.
In an apparent rebuttal to assertions made by Zainab Ahmad, Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, that her ministry was not included in the exercise, the CBN stated its view in a message emailed to the media early this morning.
The CBN’s spokesman, Mr. Osita Nwanisobi, expressed surprise at the minister’s assertion and emphasised that the bank is still a highly meticulous organisation that adheres to the law when making policy decisions.
According to him, “The Management of
the CBN, in line with provisions of section
2(b), section 18(a), and section 19(a)(b)
of the CBN Act 2007, had duly sought and obtained the approval of President
Muhammadu Buhari in writing to redesign,
produce, release and circulate new series of N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes”.
He urged Nigerians to support the currency
redesign project, he said it was in the
overall interest of Nigerians, reiterating that
some persons were hoarding significant
sums of banknotes outside the vaults of
commercial banks.
This trend, he said,
should not be encouraged by anyone who
means well for the country.
Furthermore, he noted that currency
management in the country had faced
several escalating challenges which
threatened the integrity of the currency, the
CBN, and the country, adding that every
top-rate Central Bank was committed to
safeguarding the integrity of the local legal
tender, the efficiency of its supply, as well
as its efficacy in the conduct of monetary
policy.
On the timing of the redesign project, Mr.
Nwanisobi explained that the CBN had
even tarried for too long considering that it
had to wait 20 years to carry out a redesign,
whereas the standard practice globally was
for central banks to redesign, produce and
circulate new local legal tender every five to
eight years.
While assuring Nigerians that the currency
redesign exercise was purely a central
banking exercise and not targeted at any
group, the CBN spokesman expressed
optimism that the effort will, among other
goals, deepen Nigeria’s push to entrench a
cashless economy in the face of increased
minting of the eNaira.
This, he said, is in addition to helping
to curb the incidents of terrorism and
kidnapping due to access of persons to the
large volume of money outside the banking
system used as a source of funds for
ransom payments.
The Naira redesign project, he said “is for
the greater good of the economy”
