The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said it was time constrained with the redesign of the new naira notes, hence their simplicity.
The bank, however, said the simplicity of the design ought not to be an issue as the ink used is also a security feature.
CBN’s director of currency operations, Ahmed Umar, stated this at the 2022 workshop for business editors and members of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Umar, who was represented by the head, the policy development division, currency operation department of the apex bank, Amina Halidu-Giwa, while fielding questions about the design of the new notes, which many Nigerians said were only recoloured, said the apex bank had limited time to tackle the problem of counterfeiting currency hoarding, among others.
“We want to solve a problem and we have limited time to do that.
“Redesigning is about change of colour or size. The ink itself is a security feature,” he said.
Umar also said that the redesign of the notes were long overdue, adding that the N1000 notes had been in existence for 17 years, N500 for 21 years and N200 for 22 years.
The CBN director pointed out that contrary to rumours that the apex bank would print other denominations apart from the redesigned N1000, N500 and N200, no other denomination would be printed.
He said the naira redesign would encourage many unbanked Nigerians to be included in the financial system to discourage excessive cash carrying and encourage other electronic transactions.
He further noted that when the unbanked population is fully captured in the financial system, it would help form adequate data for effective planning for greater economic growth.
“Naira redesign will also help in reducing cash management expenditures, give visibility and control and would help the bank to know the volume of money in circulation,” Umar said.
”It will also help in fighting counterfeiting and money laundering,” he added.
