On Wednesday, October 26, 2022; the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced that the N200, N500, and N1,000 notes would be redesigned.
According to CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele, who made the announcement at a special news conference in Abuja, the apex bank has obtained President Muhammadu Buhari’s consent to print new notes that will replace the current currency in use as of December 15, 2022.
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According to the CBN chief, the step was done to seize control of the cash in circulation.
Nigerians are expected to take their old notes to banks to exchange for the new notes once the new notes are designed.
He claims that the CBN initiative will aid in addressing some of the country’s security issues, namely kidnapping and terrorism.
He thinks that terrorists and kidnappers use the significant surplus of money to fund their evil deeds.
“In line with the provisions of Sections 2(b), Section 18(a) and Section 19, Seb section(a) and (b) (2007), the management of the CBN has sought and obtained the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari to redesign, produce, release and circulate new series of banknotes at N200, N500 and N1,00 levels,” he said.
“In line with this approval, we have finalised arrangements for the new currency to begin circulation from December 15, 2022 after its launch by President Buhari.
“The new and existing currencies shall remain legal tender and circulate together until January 31, 2023 when the existing currencies shall cease to be a legal tender.”
“To be more specific, as of the end of September 2022, available data at the CBN indicates that N2.7 trillion out of the N3.3 trillion currency in circulation was outside the vault of commercial banks across the country and supposedly held by members of the public,” he said.
“Evidently, currency in circulation has more than doubled since 2015, rising from N1.46 trillion in December 2015 to N3.2 trillion as of September 2022. I must say that this is a worrisome trend that must not be continued to be allowed.”
