Accept Redesigned Naira Notes – CBN Begs Nigerians
- Storms Abuja market on sensitisation campaign
- Urges public to ignore criticisms of new features
BY COBHAM NSA – Contrary to insinuations in some circles, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says the redesigned Naira notes come with greater durability that compares with the best currencies across the globe.
Consequently, the apex bank has urged Nigerians to disregard mischievous campaigns against the redesigned ₦200, ₦500, and ₦1000 banknotes given their quality features of enhanced security; and attractiveness; as well as reflecting the country rich heritage.
The CBN Abuja Branch Controller, Mr. Michael Ogbu, who spoke during the sensitisation of traders at the popular Wuse Market on the new Naira notes in Abuja on Thursday, said the currency redesign is also meant to assist in the anti-graft fight with the expected reining in of the higher denominations deployed for corruption.
Ogbu, represented by Mr Kareem Williams, further explained that the current exercise would ensure the movement of funds from the banking system is easily tracked and advised Nigerians, especially the traders, against rejecting the redesigned notes.
Pleading with the traders to fully embrace the new notes, the Branch Controller cautioned that “refusing to accept the Naira in a transaction is a crime”, even as he urged market men and women to “deposit cash holdings in these denominations (N200, N500 and N1,000) at your commercial banks”.
Ogbu allayed the traders’ fears of taking their money to the banks, saying; “there is no limit to how much a customer can deposit between now and January 31, 2023, as the CBN has suspended bank charges.
Further charging Nigerians to “Accept it, Use and Respect it as our National symbol”, the Branch Controller said; “We encourage the public to explore other payment channels, such as eNaira, POS, electronic transfer, USSD, internet banking, and mobile money operators and agents, for their economic activities.”
On the inherent benefits of the currency redesign to the Nigerian economy, Ogbu described them as ‘enormous’ given that the “policy will help to control inflation as the exercise will bring the hoarded currency into the banking system, thereby making monetary policy more effective” while also helping “with better design and implementation of Monetary Policy as we would have much more accurate data on money supply and monetary aggregates”.
“We believe that this exercise would help in increasing financial inclusion, moving towards a more cashless economy, and ensuring greater formalization of the Nigerian economy”, he assured
The Controller, who also stressed that the current series being withdrawn from circulation will cease to be legal tender after January 31, 2023, said; “The new design and current series are to circulate side by side until January 31, 2023, when the current series ceases to be legal tender.”
The highlight of the sensitisation exercise was the public demonstration of the redesigned notes’ security features to Wuse Market traders by Hauwa Ndayabo of the currency operations department of the CBN. The new Naira notes ‘change colours’ and display their denominations when tilted towards the sunlight at an angle.
Interestingly, the outing saw the enthusiastic traders christening the new notes ‘chameleon’ as the embedded features in N1,000, N500, and N200 notes popped up in different colours from the general outlook of each note.
The ongoing awareness campaign by the apex bank aims at encouraging general acceptance of the notes that have continued to attract undue criticisms since they were unveiled by President Muhammadu Buhari in November 2022 and finally pushed into circulation by the CBN on 15th December 2022.
