President Muhammadu has unveiled the newly redesigned Naira notes.
The denominations redesigned and launched by the president are the One thousand note, Five hundred and two hundred Naira notes.
The ceremony held on Wednesday at the Council Chambers of the Statehouse Abuja preceded the weekly meeting of the Executive Council of the Federation.
President Buhari in his remark underscored the importance of re-designing the new Naira notes, which he said will help the country to address the issue of
illicit financial flows, and corruption, improve the economy, and the value of the Nigerian currency.
The President noted that the currency redesign will also help the Central Bank of Nigeria’s monetary policy initiative.
President Buhari said the first set of currency which was printed locally by the Nigeria Printing And Minting Company will prevent counterfeiting of the notes.
He, however, appealed to Nigerians to embrace the new policy to re-design the Naira.
The CBN Governor Godwin Emiefele said redesigning the banknotes is based on the fact that currency management has faced several daunting challenges that have continued to grow in scale and sophistication, with the attendant and unintended consequences for the integrity of both the CBN and the country.
He added that previous efforts by the CBN to redesign and re-issue new Naira notes have been resisted by the political class in the country.
He explained that more than N2.73 trillion, out of the N3.23 trillion currency in circulation, is outside the banking sector, which he says is unacceptable.
He noted that, with the new development, the central bank aims to take control of the money supply, by mopping up all cash from the economy, both within the vaults of banks and in the hands of citizens.
This is the first time in almost 20 years that Nigeria will redesign its Naira notes.
(Editor: Ifeanyi Mark)
