Its position was contained in a note sent to the media in
the early hours of this morning in an apparent response to claims by the
Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmad, that her
ministry was not carried along by the CBN in the exercise.
The bank’s spokesman, Mr Osita Nwanisobi, expressed surprise
at the minister’s claim, stressing that the CBN remains a very thorough
institution that follows due process in its policy actions.
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.”