The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, said the proposed move to redesign of the Naira is for it to impact positively on its value.
Emefiele said this while announcing plans by the apex bank to put redesigned N200, N500 and N1,000 denominations in circulation from Dec. 15.
According to him, though that is not the major intention for changing the currency, it can come as one of its advantages.
Emefiele said that significant hoarding of banknotes by members of the public, worsening shortage of clean and fit banknotes and increasing cases and risk of counterfeiting informed the decision.
“Statistics show that more than 85 per cent of currency in circulation are outside the vaults of our commercial banks.
“As at the end of September, N2.7 trillion out of the N3.23 trillion currencies in circulation was outside the vaults of commercial banks across the country.
“Evidently, currency in circulation has more than doubled since 2015 rising from N1.46 trillion as at Dec. 2015, to N3.23 trillion as at Sept. 2022.
“This is a worrisome trend that cannot continue to be allowed, ” he said.
According to Emefiele, recent developments in photography technology and advancement in printing devices have also made counterfeiting of the Naira relatively easier.
credit: PM news
