The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has explained the reason
for the “simplicity” of the naira redesign.
Ahmed Umar, director for currency operations, CBN, spoke at
the 2022 workshop for business editors and members of the Finance
Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.
Umar was represented at the event by Amina Halidu-Giwa,
head, policy development division, currency operation department of the apex
bank.
Last week, President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled the
redesigned naira notes.
However, many Nigerians expressed dissatisfaction over the
new notes, saying that the naira was only repainted, not redesigned.
Fielding questions about the simplification, Umar said the
apex bank had limited time to tackle the problem of counterfeiting currency
hoarding, among others.
“We want to solve a problem and we have limited time to do
that,” NAN quoted Umar as saying.
“Redesigning is about
change of colour or size. The ink itself is a security feature.”
Umar said that the redesign of the notes were long overdue,
adding that the N1000 notes had been in existence for 17 years, N500 for 21
years and N200 for 22 years.
The CBN director said that contrary to rumours that the apex
bank would print other denominations apart from the redesigned N1000, N500 and
N200, no other denomination would be printed.
He said the naira redesign would encourage many unbanked
Nigerians to be included in the financial system.
According to him, it will discourage excessive cash carrying
and encourage other electronic transactions.
He said that when the unbanked population is fully captured
in the financial system, it would help form adequate data for effective
planning for greater economic growth.
“Naira redesign will also help in reducing cash management
expenditures, give visibility and control and would help the bank to know the
volume of money in circulation,” Umar said.
”It will also help in fighting counterfeiting and money
laundering.”
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