The President of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari has unveiled the redesigned Naira notes at the Presidential Federal Executive Committee (FEC) meeting today. Meanwhile, the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) has received a lot of scrutiny over the redesigned notes.
Nigerians took to Twitter to critique the new notes arguing that the CBN simply changed the hue and saturation of the old Naira notes and did not redesign them. Some insist that the new ₦200, ₦500 and ₦1000 banknotes look exactly like the ₦50, ₦20 and ₦10 notes.
Earlier, the CBN had stated that the redesign was necessary to fight counterfeiting and inflation. To that effect, the apex bank directed those with old bank notes to present them at their retail banks as they would become illegal tender effective January 2023. This saw a cash inflow of 165b into the CBN in a matter of weeks.
Following the redesign and asides the January 31, 2023 deadline for old banknotes as legal tender, here are a few more things you need to know.
- The CBN in collaboration with retail banks are still accepting deposits of old notes.
- You do not get a reward for paying old notes into the bank.
- There will be no ₦2000 or ₦5000 notes as were falsely shared on social media recently.
- The redesigned notes are locally produced by the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting (NSPM) PLC. The appointment of the agency’s new DG was hot in the news months ago because he is reportedly related to the First lady of Nigeria.
- According to the President, “the new Naira banknotes have been fortified with security features that make them difficult to counterfeit.”
Governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele said that the redesign and distribution of the new notes will control inflation, make policies more effective, ensure financial inclusion and fight corruption.
