President Muhammadu Buhari, in defense of his approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)Redesigning some naira notes, he said he was convinced the economy would benefit from reduced inflation, counterfeit currency and excess cash in circulation.
The president, who expressed his support for the decision to launch new designs and replace high-value naira notes, noted that Nigeria would gain a lot from the new initiative, especially its impact on illicit money.
According to a statement by Senior Special Assistant to the President for Media and Publicity Garba Shehu, this was made known by President Buhari while speaking in a Hausa radio interview with famous journalists Halilu Getso and Kamaluddeen Shawai, to be broadcast on Wednesday morning. on Tambari TV and Nilesat.
Shehu, in the statement, noted that the president said that Nigeria has much to gain from the change in naira notes, adding that he did not consider the 3-month period for the change to the new notes to be short.
What the statement says
Buhari said that people with illicit money buried underground will be challenged by the decision, but workers and businesses with legitimate income will not face any difficulties.
Shehu in the statement titled ‘CBN has my backing to replace the Naira notes,’ said: “Buhari said the reasons CBN gave him convinced him the economy would benefit from a reduction in inflation, counterfeit currency and excess cash in circulation.
“He said that he did not consider the three-month period for the change to the new banknotes to be short.
“People with illicit money buried underground will have a challenge with this, but workers, businesses with legitimate income won’t face any difficulty.”
what you should know
- Recall that on October 26, the CBN Governor announced the major bank’s plans to redesign the N200, N500 and N1000 by December 15, 2022, to control the money supply and help security agencies address the flow illicit financial.
- According to the CBN, existing banknotes would no longer be considered legal tender as of January 31, 2023.
- Emefiele said there was significant hoarding of naira notes by the public, with statistics showing that more than 80% of the currency in circulation was outside commercial bank vaults.
- However, less than 48 hours later, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, zainab ahmed, he said that the tax authorities were not consulted by the CBN.
- She said, “We are also seeing what the consequences will be. There will be some benefits, but there are some challenges. I don’t know if the monetary authorities have looked closely at what the consequences are and how they can be mitigated.”
- In response to the minister’s claim, CBN spokesman Osita Nwanisobi said that the lead bank sought approval from the president in accordance with the provisions of Section 2(b), Section 18(a) and Section 19( a) (b) of the CBN Act, 2007.