Buhari unveils redesigned Naira notes

President Muhammadu Buhari has unveiled the redesigned N200, N500 and N1,000 Naira notes.

The notes were unveiled on Wednesday before the start of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, presided over by the President at the State House, Abuja.

Buhari said the redesigning of the Naira notes would not only help the country to address the issue of illicit financial flows and corruption but also improve the economy and the value of the Nigerian currency.

He said the currency redesign would also help the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) monetary policy initiative, adding that the first set of currency, printed locally by the Nigeria Printing and Minting Company (NPMC) would prevent counterfeiting of the notes.

The president urged Nigerians to embrace the new policy to redesign the Naira.

READ: Finance Minister washes hands off CBN plan to redesign Naira

Speaking, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, warned Nigerians against holding the old notes, saying there was no going back on the January 31, 2023, deadline to completely render the old notes useless.

He said redesigning the banknotes was based on the fact that currency management had faced several daunting challenges that had continued to grow in scale and sophistication with attendant and unintended consequences for the integrity of both the CBN and the country.

He added that previous efforts by the CBN to redesign and re-issue new Naira notes had been resisted by the political class in the country.

He explained that more than N2.73 trillion out of the N3.23 trillion currency in circulation was outside the banking sector which, he said, was “unacceptable.”

He said with the new development, the CBN aimed to take control of money supply by mopping up all cash from the economy, both within the vaults of banks and in the hands of citizens.

This is the first time in almost 20 years that Nigeria will redesign its Naira notes.