Di Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, say di Central Bank of Nigeria no consult her ministry before dem take di decision to redesign naira notes by December.
Na for one budget debate meeting of di Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning wey happun Abuja she tok so.
Dis na afta di Govnor of di Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele bin announce for one press briefing on Wednesday 26 October say di apex bank wan komot di naira notes wey dey for circulation and produce new ones.
“Na announcement wey we hear, dem no consult us”, Madam Zainab Ahmed tok as she respond to tori pipo about di new CBN plan.
She say part of di reason wey CBN announce di naira change na because e be one of di reason to mop up liquidity and manage inflation for di kontri.
But Madam Zainab say dem dey look wetin di consequences fit be.
“Benefits go dey, but some challenges go also dey”.
She add am say she no sabi if di monetary authorities don look very closely as wetin di consequences fit be and how dem fit address am.
“I still advise say make dem get di discussion wit di monetary authorities,
She tell tori pipo say as di fiscal authority dem no dey aware, she say na announcement wey dem also hear.
“I tink dat na one of di ways dem dey try use to manage inflation but e get consequences wey dem also need to consider and how to manage di consequences.”, she tok.
Why CBN dey roll out new notes
Emefiele tok say di CBN dey face problem wit di management of di current series of banknotes wey dey circulation, especially di ones wey dey outside di banking system for Nigeria.
E say currency management na key function of di bank, wey dey for Section 2 (b) of di CBN Act 2007.
But dem say dis function dey face many challenges wey dey increase.
Emefiele say one of di challenges na say members of di public dey hoard banknotes. E follow tok say statistics show say ova 80 percent of currency wey dey for circulation dey outside di vaults of commercial banks.
Anoda challenge na say dirty and unfit banknotes dey for circulation and dis one dey give CBN bad image and e dey increase risk of financial instability.
CBN also tok say di currency wey dey for circulation dey increase risk of fake notes.
“For recent years, di CBN don record significantly higher rates of counterfeit especially for di higher denomination of N500 and N1,000 banknotes,” Emefiele tok.
E say according to global best practice, central banks suppose dey redesign, produce and circulate new currency every 5–8 years, but CBN neva redesign di naira for di past 20 years.
Wen e go start
Di CBN govnor say dem don finalise arrangements for di new currency to begin circulation from December 15, 2022.
E say di new notes and di existing ones go remain legal tender and circulate togeda until January 31, 2023 wen di existing notes no go dey useful again.
“Accordingly, all Deposit Money Banks wey dey currently hold di existing denominations of di currency fit start to dey return di notes back to di CBN effective immediately. Di newly designed currency go dey released to di banks in di order of First-come-First-serve basis,” Emefiele tok.
Di CBN govnor urge bank customers to begin pay di existing money into dia bank accounts so dem go fit withdraw di new banknotes once circulation start for mid-December 2022.
“All banks dey expected to keep open, dia currency processing centers from Monday to Saturday to accommodate all cash wey go dey returned by dia customers,” im tok.
