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President Muhammadu Buhari has unveiled the new naira notes as proposed by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Buhari unveiled the new currency notes on Wednesday morning before the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the state house, Abuja.
Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (BN), was in attendance during the unveiling ceremony.
SaharaReporters had reported in October that the Central Bank of Nigeria announced its plan to redesign all major naira notes.
It gave December 15, 2022 the date to start circulating the new notes.
The central bank announced that it would redesign the naira notes in order to control the amount of currency in circulation, manage inflation and combat counterfeiting.
“These challenges primarily include: Significant hoarding of banknotes by members of the public, with statistics showing that over 85 percent of currency in circulation are outside the vaults of commercial banks,” CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, had said.
To be more precise, as of the end of September 2022, the CBN’s data indicates that N2.73 trillion of the N3.23 trillion in currency in circulation was reportedly held by the general public outside the country’s commercial banks’ vaults.
“Evidently, currency in circulation has more than doubled since 2015; rising from N1.46 trillion in December 2015 to N3.23 trillion in September 2022. This is a worrisome trend that cannot be allowed to continue.”
The bank stated that it had made provisions for simple exchange in response to worries about Nigerians in rural areas, particularly given the short deadline for submitting the old notes.
The bank claimed that in order to ensure that vulnerable citizens were not disadvantaged, it was collaborating with pertinent financial system agencies during implementation.
“Whilst noting the progressive increase in financial access points and alternative banking channels over the years (electronic/internet banking, mobile apps, ATM, Cards/PoS, eNaira, agent banking, etc.), the Bank acknowledges that these may not be evenly distributed across all geopolitical zones and in some rural areas.
“In operationalising this initiative, the CBN has been collaborating with relevant agencies and other stakeholders in the financial system in its execution, particularly ensuring that vulnerable citizens are not disenfranchised” a statement by the Apex Bank said on November 1.