Commercial banks will commence the circulation of the much awaited newly redesigned Naira notes from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to customers across the country today. This is coming after the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele revealed that the new notes had been sent to banks, while insisting that the timelines – in terms of December 15 for commencement and the January 31 deadline were sacrosanct. The apex bank had in October 2022, redesigned all major Naira notes and notified the public that it would start circulating them before the end of the year. The affected denominations are, N200, N500, and N1000. The last time the CBN redesigned the naira was in 2014 when it changed the design of the 100 Naira note to commemorate Nigeria’s centenary anniversary. Although global best practice was for central banks to redesign, produce and circulate new local legal tender every 5–8 years, but the Naira has not been redesigned in the last 17 years. “On the basis of these trends, problems and facts, and in line with Sections 19, Subsections a and b of the CBN Act 2007, the Management of the CBN sought and obtained the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari to redesign, produce, and circulate new series of banknotes at N100, N200, N500, and N1,000 levels,” Emefiele had said.
Sun