President Muhammadu Buhari said Sunday that he supported the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) ‘s decision to launch new designs and replace high-value naira notes.
CBN governor Godwin Emefiele disclosed during a special briefing in Abuja on Wednesday that the apex bank would start circulating newly redesigned N100, N200, N500, and N1000 naira notes on December 15 following the president’s approval.
But the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, countered Emefiele on the proposal on Friday during a 2023 budget defence session with the Senate Committee on Finance, saying her ministry was not consulted by CBN on the planned naira redesigning and that she could not comment on its merits or otherwise.
The minister said, “Distinguished Senators, CBN did not consult us at the Ministry of Finance on the planned naira redesigning and cannot comment on it as regards merits or otherwise.
“However, as a Nigerian privileged to be at the top of Nigeria’s fiscal management, the policy as rolled out at this time portends serious consequences on the value of the naira against other foreign currencies.
“I will, however, appeal to this committee to invite the CBN governor for required explanations regarding the merits of the planned policy and its rightness or otherwise of its implementation now.”
But on Sunday, Buhari, according to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, emphasised that he supports the CBN’s decision to redesign the naira notes.
The president said he was convinced that the nation would gain a lot.
Buhari was quoted as having stated these in a Hausa radio interview with veteran journalists Halilu Ahmed Getso and Kamaluddeen Sani Shawai for Tambari TV.
The president said the reasons given to him by the CBN convinced him that the economy would benefit from a reduction in inflation, currency counterfeiting, and excess cash in circulation.
He said he did not consider the three months for changing to the new notes to be short.
‘‘People with illicit money buried under the soil will have a challenge with this, but workers and businesses with legitimate incomes will face no difficulties at all,’’ he said.
The president was also said to have addressed issues of food security and national security, among others, in the interview.
Emefiele, at the briefing in Abuja last week, stated, “In recent times, currency management has faced several daunting challenges that have continued to grow in scale and sophistication with attendant and unintended consequences for the integrity of both the CBN and the country.”
The CBN governor explained that public members were significantly hoarding banknotes, with statistics showing that over 85 percent of monies in circulation were outside the vaults of commercial banks.
“N2.73 trillion out of the N3.23 trillion in circulation exists outside the vault of the commercial banks.
“Evidently, currency in circulation has more than doubled since 2015, rising from N1.46 trillion in December 2015 to N3.23 trillion as of September 2022,” he had said.
He had also said that the apex bank was convinced that the incidents of terrorism and kidnapping would minimise as access to large volumes of money outside the banking sector used as a source of funds for ransom payment would begin to dry up.
